New listing, delisting rules on stock markets
▶ Fintech, digital economy, internet companies no longer ‘ above the law'
The Shanghai Stock Exchange ( SSE) and Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Monday called for public opinion on revised listing and delisting rules, adding a delisting evaluation indicator of defects in information disclosure and standardized operations.
Analysts said the new rules will enhance supervision of the financial markets in China and improve the environment of the capital markets.
Wang Peng, an assistant professor at the Gaoling School of Artificial Intelligence at the Renmin University of China, said that the exchanges' proposed new rules are a sign that China is stepping up supervision of its financial markets.
“The innovative development of fintech enterprises, digital economy enterprises, platform economy enterprises and internet giants does not match the traditional regulatory system, and these companies have become ‘ above the law'. The new institutional reform is equivalent to bringing all these new- economy enterprises under the scope of supervision, and it will solve the problem of some industry giants being ‘ too big to fail',” Wang told the Global Times on Monday.
Dong Dengxin, director of the Finance and Securities Institute at the Wuhan University of Science and Technology, said that the new rules will be applicable to new- economy companies, and they will lead to the survival of the fittest.
“The new rules quantify many of the indicators and will make enforcement easier and more law- based. Although these are revised versions issued for public opinion, there will be no big changes in the rules,” Dong said.
Wang said that Alibaba's Ant Group could have been a case of too- big- to- fail. Although its IPO was not suspended as a result of the new rules, it will be supervised under the new regulations, along with all other listed companies.
If a listing was suspended before the new regulations took effect, the old regulations should be applied to judge whether to resume the listing or to terminate it, and the old regulations should also be applied to delisting, said a spokesperson of the SSE on Monday.
The SSE said in a statement in November, just ahead of the planned IPO of Ant Group, that “major issues”, including the summoning of Ant's actual controller, and Ant's report of changes to the regulatory environment, meant that Ant might fail to meet “listing conditions or information disclosure requirements”.
Analysts said the new rules would be in line with China's fast- developing new- economy market, with stricter and more complete listing rules to accommodate more high- quality listed companies, as well as delisting rules that will accelerate the elimination of low- quality and shell companies.