Securities watchdog comments on China's trading flaws

A stock indicator shows the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index on Jan 13, 2016. [Asianewsphoto by Xie Zhengyi]

Since last summer China's stock market rout has revealed loopholes and deficiencies of the regulatory system. On Saturday, a top securities regulator said the lessons will be drawn to facilitate continued reform and improvement of the country's capital markets.

Xiao Gang, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), delivered a speech at Saturday's regulator's annual work conference. "The abnormal market volatilities has substantially reflected the immaturity of the Chinese market and investors, the flaws in the trading and market system as well as the incompetence of the regulatory capability," said Xiao.

"This year will be a year of daunting challenges for the securities regulator amid the continued downward pressure of the Chinese economy, the declining corporate earnings, high debt leverage and rising default risks.

The domestic challenges will be coupled with a fresh round of global markets downturn, accelerated decline of commodities' prices and the currency's depreciation in the emerging markets."

Xiao's comment came after the Chinese stock market experienced dramatic volatilities dating back to last summer, raising not only concerns about the stability of the Chinese economy but also criticism and suspicions about the government's capability to regulate the country's capital markets.

In his speech, Xiao vowed to deepen reform of the Chinese capital market including the launch of a registration-based initial public offering system.

"The reform will be a gradual process and the IPO pace and pricing will not completely deregulated "all at once" as the regulator will seek to prevent a massive supply of new shares from burdening the market," said Xiao.

"The regulator will push the A-share to be included in global indexes and will launch the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect Program as well as study the possibility of a trading link between Shanghai and London."

Xiao also pledged to further liberalize the Chinese stock market by granting international investors greater access

China will also roll out a strategic emerging industries board on the Shanghai Stock Exchange to expand financing channels for the country's high-growth and innovative enterprises.

In addition, the CSRC will tighten oversight on securities brokerages, public and private funds as well as listed companies. It will also step up regulation on leveraged and programmed trading to curb risks and maintain market fair play.