China watchdog plans to improve securities vetting process for ChiNext

[SHANGHAI] China's securities watchdog said on Friday it plans to reduce the number of regulators responsible for vetting securities issuance on the country's growth board in a bid to improve efficiency.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said on its official microblog it plans to reduce the number of members on the Stock Issuance Examination and Verification Committee for the ChiNext board to 25 from 35, as part of reforms to the vetting process.

The regulator said some full-time committee members were fully occupied but some part-time members did not have enough work to do, so the reduction - mainly targeting part-time members - was aimed at improving structure and increasing efficiency.

There are 531 companies listed on the start-up ChiNext board, compared with more than 1,100 publicly traded on Shanghai's main board.

The ChiNext index is down 15.7 per cent so far this year, compared with a 13.3 per cent decline on the Shanghai index.

REUTERS