中國新的證券交易所計劃加劇擔憂交易所之爭

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

China's new stock exchange plans fuel fears of a bourse war

Fri., September 3, 2021, 2:48 a.m.

SHANGHAI, Sept 3 (Reuters) - China's plans to launch a new exchange in Beijing, announced by President Xi Jinping on Thursday, boosted shares in Chinese brokerages but knocked down Shenzhen start-up board ChiNext and shares of Hong Kong's bourse amid fears of rising competition.

Although China's securities regulator said the planned Beijing stock exchange is based on the city's existing New Third Board, and complements Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses, some fear a rivalry for listing resources is inevitable.

"The Beijing stock exchange has equal footing with Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses. If it prospers, the three will share the market in tripartite confrontation," wrote Rock Jin, economist and CEO of investment adviser PopEton.

Although it was good news for the economy, it boded ill for the market in the short term because "after all, it diverts capital away from Shanghai and Shenzhen markets."

Xi unveiled plans for the new exchange in a video address at the opening of a conference late on Thursday. The bourse will serve innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and is part of a reform of Beijing's New Third Board.

Neither Xi nor the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said if the Beijing stock exchange would attract overseas-listed firms. If that is the case, "it would increase the competition" in listings for the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEx), Jefferies said in a note.

HKEx shares dropped more than 2% on Friday and Shenzhen's ChiNext fell over 1%, both underperforming the broader market.

But shares of brokerages, including Northeast Securities Co , Dongxing Securities Co and Shenwan Hongyuan Group Co jumped, as investors bet they will benefit from more initial public offerings (IPOs).

"This is a step forward in capital market reforms, as it enhances the multi-layered capital market system and direct financing," Morgan Stanley said in a note.

The bank added that the implementation of a registration-based IPO mechanism on the Beijing exchange paves the way for the rollout of the listing system on China's main boards. Currently, only Shenzhen's ChiNext, and Shanghai's tech-focused STAR Market adopts the U.S.-style IPO system.

FUNDING DIFFICULTY

China is launching the new exchange as part of efforts to channel more household savings into the stock market to fund innovation and economic recovery, while reducing the economy's reliance on bank lending. It also comes as U.S.-listed Chinese companies face the risk of delisting amid Sino-U.S. tensions.

"Funding difficulty is the main challenge facing SMEs," wrote Liu Hui, fund manager at Invesco.

 "Supporting SMEs with direct financing helps promote China's consumption, as SMEs employ most of the labour force in China."

CSRC said on Friday that the new exchange will be based on the current "select tier" of Beijing's New Third Board, meaning all the 66 companies listed in that tier will be transferred to the Beijing exchange.

CSRC also announced draft rules for share sales, trading and delisting on the new venue. Companies to be listed on the Beijing exchange are "smaller and newer" than those listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, and eligible ones can also migrate to the other two bourses seamlessly, CSRC official Zhou Guihua told a press conference on Friday.

In addition, only qualified investors can trade on the Beijing exchange, which sets higher bar in line with the higher risks involved in investing in SMEs, he said.

Zhou also vowed to crack down on insider trading, stock manipulation and false disclosures, in order to promote long-term, rational investing on the new board.

The New Third Board, which was set up in 2013, currently houses a total of 7,299 SMEs, mostly in the "base tier" and "innovation tier".

The board once attracted more than 10,000 companies listed in 2013-16, but the market has suffered from poor liquidity since China's spectacular 2015 market boom and bust.

Economist Jin said it was a big question mark whether the new exchange would thrive, as "the city of Beijing doesn't have the right culture for an exchange." (Reporting by Samuel Shen and Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Stephen Coates and David Evans)

Translation

路透上海 9 月 3 日 - 中國國家主席習近平周四宣佈在北京設立新交易所的計劃, 提振了中國券商的股價。但由於擔心競爭，深圳初啟業者的創業板和香港交易所的股價都下跌。

儘管中國證監會表示，計劃中的北京證券交易所是以該市現有的新三板為基礎，並與滬深兩市相輔相成，但有些人擔心上市資源的競爭是不可避免的。

投資顧問PopEton的經濟學家兼首席執行官Rock Jin寫道：“北京證券交易所與上海及深圳交易所平起平坐。如果它繁榮起來，三者將在分享市場中作出三方衡抗。”

雖然這對經濟來說是個好消息，但在短期內對市場來說卻是個壞消息，因為“畢竟它把資金從滬深市場分流了”。

習近平在周四晚間的一次會議開幕式上的視頻講話中公佈了新交易所的計劃。該交易所將服務創新型的中小企業，是北京新三板改革的一部分。

習近平和中國證監會都沒有表示北京證券交易所是否會吸引海外上市公司。如果是這樣，“這將增加香港交易及結算所有限公司（HKEx）上市的競爭”, Jefferies 在一份報告中表示。

港交所股價週五下跌超過 2%，深圳創業板下跌超過 1%，均跑輸大市。

但包括東北證券公司、東興證券公司和申万宏源集團公司在內的券商股價跳漲，因為投資者押注他們將受惠於更多的首次公開募股 (IPO)。

摩根士丹利在一份報告中表示 “這是資本市場改革向前邁出的一步，因為它增強了多層次資本市場體系和直接融資” 。

該行補充說，北京交易所實施註冊制IPO機制，為中國主板上市制度的推出鋪平了道路。目前，只有深圳的創業板和上海證券交易科技聚焦的科創板採用美式IPO制度。

資金困難

中國正在以啟動新交易所以作為要努力的一部分,將更多家庭儲蓄引入股市以資助創新意念和使經濟復甦, 同時減少經濟對銀行貸款的依賴。與此同時，在中美緊張局勢下，在美上市的中國公司正面臨退市風險。

景順基金(Invesco) 經理劉輝 (Liu Hui) 寫道,“資金困難是中小企業面臨的主要挑戰”。

“因為中小企業僱用了中國的大部分勞動力, 通過直接融資支持中小企業有助於促進中國的消費。”

中國證監(CSRC)會周五表示，新交易所將基於北京新三板目前的“精選層級” 。這意味著該層級上市的66家公司將全部轉移到北京交易所。

中國證監會還公佈了新場所股票買賣交易和退市規則草案。中國證監會官員Zhou Guihua周五在新聞發布會上表示，將在北京交易所上市的公司, 比在上海和深圳上市的公司 “更小、更新” 。符合條件的公司也可以無縫地遷移到另外兩個交易所。

他說，此外，只有合格投資者才能在北京交易所交易，並設定了更高的門檻, 這與投資中小企業涉及的風險較高一致。

Zhou Guihua 還誓言要嚴厲打擊內幕交易、股票操縱和虛假信息披露，以促進新板的長期理性投資。

新三板成立於2013年，目前共有7,299家中小企業，主要處於“基礎層”和“創新層”。

該板曾在 2013-16 年吸引了超過 10,000 家公司上市，但自 2015 年中國壯觀的市場興旺和之後的蕭條以來，市場一直遭受流動性不佳的困擾。

經濟學家Rock Jin表示，新的交易所能否蓬勃發展是一個很大的問號，因為“北京沒有適合交易所的文化。”

 So, China's plans to launch a new exchange in Beijing. Although China's securities regulator says that the planned Beijing stock exchange is based on the city's existing New Third Board, and complements Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses, some people in Hong Kong fear that a rivalry for listing resources is inevitable.

Note:

a. ChiNext is a NASDAQ-style subsidiary of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The first batch of firms started trading on ChiNext on October 30, 2009. As of June 2015, there were 464 firms listed on ChiNext. ChiNext aims to attract innovative and fast-growing enterprises, especially high-tech firms. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChiNext)