The China Securities Regulatory Commission or CSRC, has finally approved Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to be listed on the second board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, one of China's two bourses after four years of twists and turns. 
 
How will the sub-board operate in the market and will a mature growth enterprise board soon be created?

The General Manager of Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Zhang Yujun says the present threshold for listings will remain the same. But to strengthen risk control, regulators will introduce some special trading rules and enhance the requirement for information disclosure and auditing on the fund application for the SME stocks.

"Due to the relatively high fluctuation of SME stock price, We will work out a series of regulations concerning the operation of the SME sub-board to control the risk. The new board will have independent operations, own index and trade code from the existing main board in Shenzhen, but the SME board will adopt a stricter supervision and a better pricing system that aim to reduce manipulation."

He says the further details of the operation of the new board will be published soon and the widely-anticipated first SME stock is scheduled to be available to investors within one month.

Both investors and experts hail the establishement of the sub-board. It will provide financial convenience for small and medium sized firms in China that have difficulty receiving loans from banks. They believe this move can also give it experience to eventually develop into a mature growth enterprise board.

While, CSRC officials say there has not a timeable for the launch of the enterprise board. Xie Geng is a marketing director with the CSRC.

"The establishment of the SME board is an important step and experiment for the gradual buildup of the board for growing enterprises, but we don't have a specific timetable, which will depend on the result and process of the experiment."
 
(CRI May 24, 2004)