January 2004 Archive

State Council’s “Nine Articles”

January 31st, 2004

国务院关于推进资本市场改革发展的9条意见

各省、自治区、直辖市人民政府,国务院各部委、各直属机构:

《国务院关于进一步加强证券市场宏观管理的通知》(国发〔1992〕68号)下发以来,我国资本市场发展迅速,取得了举世瞩目的成就。资本市场 初具规模,市场基础设施不断改善,法律法规体系逐步健全,市场规范化程度进一步提高,已经成为社会主义市场经济体系的重要组成部分,为国有企业、金融市场 改革和发展,优化资源配置,促进经济结构调整和经济发展,作出了重要贡献。为贯彻落实党的十六大和十六届三中全会精神,围绕全面建设小康社会的战略目标, 积极推进资本市场改革开放和稳定发展,现提出如下意见。

一、充分认识大力发展资本市场的重要意义

大力发展资本市场是一项重要的战略任务,对我国实现本世纪头20年国民经济翻两番的战略目标具有重要意义。一是有利于完善社会主义市场经济体 制,更大程度地发挥资本市场优化资源配置的功能,将社会资金有效转化为长期投资。二是有利于国有经济的结构调整和战略性改组,加快非国有经济发展。三是有 利于提高直接融资比例,完善金融市场结构,提高金融市场效率,维护金融安全。

我国资本市场是伴随着经济体制改革的进程逐步发展起来的。由于建立初期改革不配套和制度设计上的局限,资本市场还存在一些深层次问题和结构性矛 盾,制约了市场功能的有效发挥。这些问题是资本市场发展中遇到的问题,也只有在发展中逐步加以解决。党的十六大提出了全面建设小康社会的战略目标,十六届 三中全会通过了《中共中央关于完善社会主义市场经济体制若干问题的决定》,对资本市场发展作出了部署,为我国资本市场改革开放和稳定发展指明了方向。要认 清形势,抓住机遇,转变观念,大力发展资本市场,提高直接融资比例,创造和培育良好的投资环境,充分发挥资本市场在促进资本形成、优化资源配置、推动经济 结构调整、完善公司治理结构等方面的作用,为国民经济持续快速协调健康发展和全面建设小康社会作出新的贡献。

二、推进资本市场改革开放和稳定发展的指导思想和任务

推进资本市场改革开放和稳定发展的指导思想是:以邓小平理论和“三个代表”重要思想为指导,全面落实党的十六大和十六届三中全会精神,遵循“公 开、公平、公正”原则和“法制、监管、自律、规范”的方针,坚持服务于国民经济全局,实现与国民经济协调发展;坚持依法治市,保护投资者特别是社会公众投 资者的合法权益;坚持资本市场改革的市场化取向,充分发挥市场机制的作用;坚持改革的力度、发展的速度与市场可承受程度的统一,处理好改革、发展、稳定的 关系;坚持用发展的办法解决前进中的问题,处理好加快资本市场发展与防范市场风险的关系;坚持循序渐进,不断提高对外开放水平。

推进资本市场改革开放和稳定发展的任务是:以扩大直接融资、完善现代市场体系、更大程度地发挥市场在资源配置中的基础性作用为目标,建设透明高 效、结构合理、机制健全、功能完善、运行安全的资本市场。要围绕这一目标,建立有利于各类企业筹集资金、满足多种投资需求和富有效率的资本市场体系;完善 以市场为主导的产品创新机制,形成价格发现和风险管理并举、股票融资与债券融资相协调的资本市场产品结构;培育诚实守信、运作规范、治理机制健全的上市公 司和市场中介群体,强化市场主体约束和优胜劣汰机制;健全职责定位明确、风险控制有效、协调配合到位的市场监管体制,切实保护投资者合法权益。

三、进一步完善相关政策,促进资本市场稳定发展

资本市场的稳定发展需要相应的政策引导和支持。各部门要进一步完善相关政策,为资本市场稳定发展营造良好环境。

完善证券发行上市核准制度。健全有利于各类优质企业平等利用资本市场的机制,提高资源配置效率。

重视资本市场的投资回报。要采取切实措施,改变部分上市公司重上市、轻转制、重筹资、轻回报的状况,提高上市公司的整体质量,为投资者提供分享经济增长成果、增加财富的机会。

鼓励合规资金入市。继续大力发展证券投资基金。支持保险资金以多种方式直接投资资本市场,逐步提高社会保障基金、企业补充养老基金、商业保险资 金等投入资本市场的资金比例。要培养一批诚信、守法、专业的机构投资者,使基金管理公司和保险公司为主的机构投资者成为资本市场的主导力量。

拓宽证券公司融资渠道。继续支持符合条件的证券公司公开发行股票或发行债券筹集长期资金。完善证券公司质押贷款及进入银行间同业市场管理办法, 制定证券公司收购兼并和证券承销业务贷款的审核标准,在健全风险控制机制的前提下,为证券公司使用贷款融通资金创造有利条件。稳步开展基金管理公司融资试 点。

积极稳妥解决股权分置问题。规范上市公司非流通股份的转让行为,防止国有资产流失。稳步解决目前上市公司股份中尚不能上市流通股份的流通问题。在解决这一问题时要尊重市场规律,有利于市场的稳定和发展,切实保护投资者特别是公众投资者的合法权益。

完善资本市场税收政策。研究制定鼓励社会公众投资的税收政策,完善证券、期货公司的流转税和所得税征收管理办法,对具备条件的证券、期货公司实行所得税集中征管。

四、健全资本市场体系,丰富证券投资品种

建立多层次股票市场体系。在统筹考虑资本市场合理布局和功能定位的基础上,逐步建立满足不同类型企业融资需求的多层次资本市场体系,研究提出相 应的证券发行上市条件并建立配套的公司选择机制。继续规范和发展主板市场,逐步改善主板市场上市公司结构。分步推进创业板市场建设,完善风险投资机制,拓 展中小企业融资渠道。积极探索和完善统一监管下的股份转让制度。

积极稳妥发展债券市场。在严格控制风险的基础上,鼓励符合条件的企业通过发行公司债券筹集资金,改变债券融资发展相对滞后的状况,丰富债券市场 品种,促进资本市场协调发展。制定和完善公司债券发行、交易、信息披露、信用评级等规章制度,建立健全资产抵押、信用担保等偿债保障机制。逐步建立集中监 管、统一互联的债券市场。

稳步发展期货市场。在严格控制风险的前提下,逐步推出为大宗商品生产者和消费者提供发现价格和套期保值功能的商品期货品种。

建立以市场为主导的品种创新机制。研究开发与股票和债券相关的新品种及其衍生产品。加大风险较低的固定收益类证券产品的开发力度,为投资者提供储蓄替代型证券投资品种。积极探索并开发资产证券化品种。

五、进一步提高上市公司质量,推进上市公司规范运作

提高上市公司质量。上市公司的质量是证券市场投资价值的源泉。上市公司董事和高级管理人员要把股东利益最大化和不断提高盈利水平作为工作的出发 点和落脚点。要进一步完善股票发行管理体制,推行证券发行上市保荐制度,支持竞争力强、运作规范、效益良好的公司发行上市,从源头上提高上市公司质量。鼓 励已上市公司进行以市场为主导的、有利于公司持续发展的并购重组。进一步完善再融资政策,支持优质上市公司利用资本市场加快发展,做优做强。

规范上市公司运作。完善上市公司法人治理结构,按照现代企业制度要求,真正形成权力机构、决策机构、监督机构和经营管理者之间的制衡机制。强化 董事和高管人员的诚信责任,进一步完善独立董事制度。规范控股股东行为,对损害上市公司和中小股东利益的控股股东进行责任追究。强化上市公司及其他信息披 露义务人的责任,切实保证信息披露的真实性、准确性、完整性和及时性。建立健全上市公司高管人员的激励约束机制。

完善市场退出机制。要采取有效措施,结合多层次市场体系建设,进一步完善市场退出机制。在实现上市公司优胜劣汰的同时,建立对退市公司高管人员失职的责任追究机制,切实保护投资者的合法权益。

六、促进资本市场中介服务机构规范发展,提高执业水平

把证券、期货公司建设成为具有竞争力的现代金融企业。根据审慎监管原则,健全证券、期货公司的市场准入制度。督促证券、期货公司完善治理结构, 规范其股东行为,强化董事会和经理人员的诚信责任。改革证券、期货客户交易结算资金管理制度,研究健全客户交易结算资金存管机制。严禁挪用客户资产,切实 维护投资者合法权益。证券、期货公司要完善内控机制,加强对分支机构的集中统一管理。完善以净资本为核心的风险监控指标体系,督促证券、期货公司实施稳健 的财务政策。鼓励证券、期货公司通过兼并重组、优化整合做优做强。建立健全证券、期货公司市场退出机制。

加强对其他中介服务机构的管理。规范发展证券期货投资咨询机构、证券资信评级机构,加强对会计师事务所、律师事务所和资产评估机构的管理,提高中介机构的专业化服务水平。

七、加强法制和诚信建设,提高资本市场监管水平

健全资本市场法规体系,加强诚信建设。按照大力发展资本市场的总体部署,健全有利于资本市场稳定发展和投资者权益保护的法规体系。要清理阻碍市 场发展的行政法规、地方性法规、部门规章以及政策性文件,为大力发展资本市场创建良好的法制环境。要按照健全现代市场经济社会信用体系的要求,制定资本市 场诚信准则,维护诚信秩序,对严重违法违规、严重失信的机构和个人坚决实施市场禁入措施。

推进依法行政,加强资本市场监管。按照深化行政审批制度改革和贯彻实施《行政许可法》的要求,提高执法人员的自身素质和执法水平。树立与时俱进 的监管理念,建立健全与资本市场发展阶段相适应的监管方式,完善监管手段,提高监管效率。进一步充实监管力量,整合监管资源,培养一支政治素质和专业素质 过硬的监管队伍。通过实施有效的市场监管,努力提高市场的公正性、透明度和效率,降低市场系统风险,保障市场参与者的合法权益。

发挥行业自律和舆论监督作用。要发挥证券期货交易所、登记结算公司、证券期货业协会、律师、会计师、资产评估等行业协会的自律管理作用。要引导和加强新闻媒体对证券期货市场的宣传和监督。

八、加强协调配合,防范和化解市场风险

营造良好的资本市场发展环境。资本市场的风险防范关系到国家的金融安全和国民经济的健康发展。各地区、各部门都要关心和支持资本市场的规范发 展,在出台涉及资本市场的政策措施时,要充分考虑资本市场的敏感性、复杂性和特殊性,并建立信息共享、沟通便捷、职责明确的协调配合机制,为市场稳定发展 创造良好的环境和条件。

共同防范和化解市场风险。各地区、各部门要切实履行《公司法》等有关法律法规规定的职责,采取有效措施防止和及时纠正发起人虚假出资、大股东或 实际控制人侵占上市公司资产的行为;各地区和有关主管部门要依法加强对退市公司的管理,确保退市工作平稳顺利。对有重大经营风险必须退出资本市场或采取其 他行政处置措施的证券、期货公司,地方人民政府、金融监管部门以及公安、司法等部门,要加强协调配合,按照法律法规和有关政策规定,采取积极有效措施做好 风险处置工作。各地区、各部门必须建立应对资本市场突发事件的快速反应机制和防范化解风险的长效机制。

严厉打击证券期货市场违法活动。各地区要贯彻落实国务院关于整顿和规范市场经济秩序的有关精神,严格禁止本地区非法发行证券、非法设立证券期货 经营机构、非法代理证券期货买卖、非法或变相设立证券期货交易场所及其他证券期货违法活动。财政、公安、审计、工商等政府部门和国有资产监督管理机构要加 强协调配合,加大打击力度,维护资本市场秩序。

九、认真总结经验,积极稳妥地推进对外开放

严格履行我国加入世贸组织关于证券服务业对外开放的承诺。鼓励具备条件的境外证券机构参股证券公司和基金管理公司,继续试行合格的境外机构投资者制度。

积极利用境外资本市场。遵循市场规律和国际惯例,支持符合条件的内地企业到境外发行证券并上市。支持符合条件的内地机构和人员到境外从事与资本市场投资相关的服务业务和期货套期保值业务。认真研究合格的境内机构投资者制度。

加强交流与合作。落实与香港、澳门更紧密经贸合作安排。进一步加强与相关国际组织及境外证券监管机构的联系与合作。

大力发展资本市场是党中央、国务院从全局和战略出发作出的重要决策,各地区、各部门务必高度重视,树立全局观念,充分认识发展资本市场的重要 性,坚定信心、抓住机遇、开拓创新,共同为资本市场发展创造条件,积极推动我国资本市场的改革开放和稳定发展,为实现全面建设小康社会的宏伟目标作出贡 献。

2004年1月31日

70 Million Investment Accounts

January 28th, 2004

New CSRC statistics show that there are now more than 70 million securities trading accounts in China, according to this Xinhua story.

While China’s rapid progress in building securities markets is noteworthy, both the Green and Walter/Howie books published last year deconstruct this type of aggregate number. They show that the actual number of investors in China’s stock markets is much smaller than what is suggested by looking at the aggregate number of trading accounts that have been opened. The number of traders is immediately halved because investors must open separate accounts to trade shares listed in Shenzhen and Shanghai. Then there is a considerable problem with multiple accounts being used by single investors (and an apparently smaller converse problem of multiple investors using a single account). Also, many accounts are inactive or become active only when lucrative IPO subscriptions are on offer. Indeed, the number of active traders may be only a small fraction of the number of accounts.

Securities Law Revision may go to NPCSC in April

January 28th, 2004

The Securities Times reports here that an amended version of the PRC Securities Law may be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for initial deliberation in April. Normally, laws are reviewed three times by the NPCSC before adoption.

QFIIs and Investment in Bonds

January 20th, 2004

Here is a curious thing. The Provisional QFII Regulations (合格境外机构投资者境内证券投资管理暂行办法, Hege jingwai jigou touzizhe jingnei zhengquan touzi guanli zanxing banfa) issued by the CSRC and PBOC back on November 8, 2002 (available here in Chinese) provide:

第十八条 合格投资者在经批准的投资额度内,可以投资下列人民币金融工具:
  (一)在证券交易所挂牌交易的除境内上市外资股以外的股票;
  (二)在证券交易所挂牌交易的国债;
  (三)在证券交易所挂牌交易的可转换债券和企业债券;
  (四)中国证监会批准的其他金融工具。

Article 18
QFIIs may within their approved investment quota invest in the following RMB financial instruments:
1) stocks listed and traded on stock exchanges other than domestically listed shares denominated in foreign-currency [i.e., B shares];
2) [PRC] Treasury Bonds listed and traded on stock exchanges;
3) Convertible bonds and corporate bonds listed and traded on stock exchanges;
4) Other financial instruments approved by the CSRC.

However, subsequent regulations narrow the scope of permitted QFII investments. These rules promulgated on December 1, 2002 by the Shanghai Securities Exchange and these identical rules promulgated on the same day by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange provide:

第十四条因技术原因,合格投资者暂不能参与国债回购和企业债券的交易。

Article 14
For technical reasons, QFIIs cannot, for now, participate in trading Treasury Bond repurchases or corporate bonds.

It is not clear what “technical reasons” would prevent QFIIs from buying listed bonds. It is also interesting that the scope of QFII investments has been restricted through exchange-level regulations. My impression is that China’s stock exchanges are not self-regulatory organizations in any meaningful sense. For example, the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchange have identical rules on QFII trading. In general the exchanges do not compete with each other by creating their own listing standards to attract better quality issuers or greater numbers of issuers. Rather, the two exchanges have joint listing rules which are approved by the CSRC. Indeed, the The CSRC signs off on the heads of the two exchanges, and they often have CSRC ties. So I can’t help but wonder if such a regulatory move as this one concerning QFIIs reflects exchange policy or CSRC policy implemented through the exchanges.

And why have this policy?

Second SIEC Meetings Under New Rules

January 18th, 2004

Two groups of members of the Stock Issuance Examination Committee (SIEC) met today, approving between them five IPO applications.

This was the second time SIEC meetings have been held under new rules that make such meetings more transparent.

These meetings, their agenda and the names of the participating SIEC members must now be announced in advance (though I don’t immediately see the announcement for today’s meeting on the CSRC website). The results are promptly posted on the CSRC website afterwards ( here and here for today’s meeting). However, the meetings themselves are still not public proceedings.

Tonight I saw a television reporter standing outside the CSRC offices, explaining in his report that he was not allowed to go inside and observe the meetings.

The BMW Incident

January 17th, 2004

Back in October, Liu Zhongxia and Dai Yiquan had a traffic mishap with a woman named Su Xiuwen.

A married couple, Liu and Dai are PRC peasants. Su drove a BMW SUV. Under PRC import duties, that is an extravagantly expensive car.

As often happens, the traffic incident led to street theater. Su allegedly got out of her damaged car and physically assaulted Dai, berating him for damaging her vehicle.

Predictably, a crowd gathered to watch. But things did not unfold as usual. At some point Su got back in the BMW. It careened forward, killing Dai’s wife. Twelve onlookers were also injured.

Su was not charged with murder but with a driving offense. She was given a suspended sentence for that in December. The court apparently found she did not intend to run over anybody.

This “BMW Runover Incident” or 宝马撞人事件 (BaoMa zhuangren shijian) and its aftermath has generated enormous attention in China.

Public outrage spread through the internet. Many people believe Su has gotten away with murder. They perceive that the investigation, prosecution and trial were unfair and shaped by inappropriate influence. Su is rich and powerful (married to a tycoon and related to a high provincial official, it is said). The victim was a peasant, without money or power. To many who hear the story, the system seems to have excused Su and utterly failed Dai and Liu.

The New York Times reported on the matter last week, and the China Daily did so before that, in January.

Furor over the case continues. The investigation has been re-opened, the China Daily now reports here (with pictures, including a graphic one of the victim).

Beyond the obvious human tragedy, there are many noteworthy dimensions to this, including the:

Role of the internet in spreading and building public outrage;

Possible corruption or political influence in the law enforcement and judicial systems, and public outrage about it;

Over-the-top brazenness of the behavior, if intentional as alleged;

Extraordinary disparities of wealth and power in PRC and how those seem to be affect the public perceptions of the parties’ behavior and their treatment by the police, prosecutors and judicial system;

Official PRC media discussion of the case;

Official reaction (a new investigation, at least) arising after the public furor and media attention;

Parallels between all this and the Sun Zhigang case earlier in 2003.

Global Markets Embrace Tech and Agriculture Shares from China

January 15th, 2004

A couple of things from FinanceAsia.com: an information-rich story here about recently completed and upcoming technology IPOs from greater China, and an unsettling story here about a PRC agribusiness listed in Hong Kong that claims to make enormous profits by consolidating the holdings of many small peasant plots.

Much e-commerce in China seems to be driven by short messaging service (SMS) applications. In the PRC I sometimes use my mobile to send SMS (or duan xin), and when in the US I have sometimes found helpful a web-based SMS interface that lets me send SMS to friends in China. But only rarely have I found SMS to be preferable to a phone call or conventional email, so I find it a little hard to grasp how SMS revenues can scale into global businesses. There is some cost differential–sending SMS is cheaper than making a voice call, and the Chinese do love a bargain. Perhaps here what has come to fruition is the classic formulation “imagine how rich I would be if I could sell every person in China one __________.”

I also don’t understand how enormous profits can be squeezed out of Chinese agriculture by rationalizing production, given the low wages of PRC peasants now. Since labor isn’t expensive, how can mechanization or consolidation affect costs much? It may improve productivity (per worker) and even net output some, but that would seem to lower prices (and hence profits) eventually, not create producer windfalls. If surplus is not created out of new efficiency, it must come from a reduction in the share of wealth going to the peasants. If so, the mind reels at the social implications. I presume the people selling their land use rights to this conglomerate are fairly compensated and are not coerced into the sales. Urbanization of hundreds of millions of peasants is part of China’s transition to modernity,and if I was a farmer in Hubei I’d probably rather try to make it in a city that scratch out a living on a tiny plot. But how does such consolidation translate into large profit margins for agricultural producers? How can there be massive efficiency gains on the supply side?

Legal and regulatory reform is complicated enough. After years of work I am beginning to think I have some sense of what’s going on there, at least with respect to securities markets (at least I do as of today; they may again rewrite the rules tomorrow and send me back to square one). I think I’ll continue to leave sector-level and firm-level analysis to others.

PRC IPO Fever

January 13th, 2004

The Financial Times reports here on the success of the Hong Kong IPO of China Green

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal carried a number of stories related to financial sector reform in China. Here is an interesting story about Morgan Stanley’s efforts to collect NPLs it has acquired. Also, this article reports that the upcoming IPO of China Construction Bank has investment bankers frothing at the mouth. Henry Kissinger, former US treasury secretary Robert Rbuin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder have all been deployed in the chase for this IPO mandate, according to this Bloomberg story.

PRC GEM Dreams Continue

January 12th, 2004

China ought to quickly establish a stock market for the funding of promising small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), said Fan Fuchun, a vice minister of the CSRC, at a conference on SMEs today, according to this PRC financial press article. Fan noted creating the right legal environment for an SME market requires amendment of the PRC Company Law and PRC Securities Law.

Amendment of the Company and Securities Law is on the current 5-year plan for the NPC, and the important Central Committee of the Party’s Decision on Economic Reform still calls for establishment of a PRC GEM. So these dreams continue, though I imagine Fan can probably use the same speech he gave today at next year’s conference, given the glacial rate of progress on this policy initiative.

Legal Reform TV in the PRC

January 12th, 2004

Legal construction in China not only involves significant economic and political changes but also massive cultural adjustments. Passing laws doesn’t mean the society knows about them or is ready to start implementing them. Sea changes of that magnitude require massive educational efforts and the realignment of social expectations. Consequently, state media in China have launched some interesting efforts to educate citizens about new laws and how things should operate in accordance with them.

This new wave of legal reform propaganda often takes the form of shows like 60 Minutes or 20/20. A particular dispute is investigated at some length. The parties involved are interviewed, then legal scholars or the actual judges who handled the case comment on the resolution.

One such show is Law Today (今日说法, Jinri shuo fa) The other is Economics and Law (经济与法, Jingji yu fa).

Today I watched Economics and Law. The entire show was about a guy who saw a computer mistakenly advertised online for RMB 1,100 (about USD 130; the value would have been about RMB 11,000). He immediately placed an order and got a confirmation back from the vendor. The next day, however, the vendor called and refused to deliver the computer at the low price. Meanwhile, the clever consumer had signed an agreement to sell the computer to a friend for RMB 5,000. He thus claimed he had suffered economic losses equivalent to the difference between the prices. The court awarded the consumer RMB 1,000. (This verdict seemed odd to me; either there was no contract because of mistake about an essential term, in which event the consumer should be entitled to nothing, or there was an offer & acceptance constituting a contract, in which case the vendor should have been held to the mistaken price or forced to pay the consumer’s damages).

I don’t know how these shows affect their target PRC audience, but for me they are much more interesting than the often vapid official PRC news broadcasts and many of the soap operas that dominate PRC television.

Securitization Rules Being Drafted

January 10th, 2004

Andrew Collier reports in the South China Morning Post that new rules on securitization are being drafted by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and other agencies. Securitization could be used as another method for solving the problem of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the banking system, in addition to bank recapitalizations and transferring NPLs to asset management companies.

Beijing Book Fair

January 10th, 2004

Today I went to the Beijing International Book Fair. It is being held at the Beijing International Exhibition Center.

The scale of this book fair is considerable. There are three large floors of exhibits in the main building and another football field or so of exhibition space utilized in an adjacent building.

Still, the word “international” might be fairly stripped from both the title of this show and the name of its location. Beijing has some impressive venues, but the exhibition center is not really one of them. In fact, a new exhibition center is planned. Plus, I saw no foreign publishers at today’s book fair (though I saw several Business Week China tote bags, so I suppose some Chinese publishers with foreign investment are represented).

But scores of domestic publishers are participating. Indeed, based on the names of the exhibitors, I got the impression that every Chinese danwei of substantial size has an affiliated publishing houses (出版社 or chu ban she). No obvious connection between a core business and publishing is required. For example, I found a booth for a publishing house belonging to the Ministry of Water Resources. Likewise, the parent entity of a publishing house doesn’t tell you much about what it will publish. A publisher that seems to belong to the ministry of railways had, in addition to books on the history of China’s railroads, the inevitable books on preparing for tests like the Gao Kao. (Books on every conceivable topic seemed to be on display, but the most common products seemed to be educational materials, including an amazing amount of material for studying English.)

While some publishers simply stacked books on a folding table, many publishers displayed their wares in sophisticated installations–the kind of elaborately designed and built spaces you see at high-end “international” trade shows. For example, the sprawling exhibit for CITIC’s publishing house had a a coffee bar and a gallery with portraits of their authors (including GE’s Jack Welch, IBM’s Lou Gesnter, Milton Friedman and the European CEO who remade Nissan).

Although there is a lot to see at the book fair, most things are not on sale. If you own a bookstore, each publisher has people ready to take your order. But for the typical consumer, this show is just about window shopping.

However, by taking advantage of the customary Chinese hospitality and indulgence towards foreigners, I was able to buy copies of two things I saw and really, really wanted.

One is the new version of an annual book on the PRC stock market, 中国股市发展报告: 2003 年, Zhongguo Gushi Fazhan Baogao: 2003 Nian by Li Zhangzhe. Li basically keeps a paper blog–he collects interesting and important news about the stock market all year, then publishes a retrospective collection. This is the fourth of these volumes I’ve seen (the first one covered a number of years and came with a CD; then there have been annual volumes covering 2001, 2002 and now this one just out for 2003). I try to follow developments all year on my own, but I always learn something new from Li’s collections. He covers not only legal or regulatory developments but also firm-level news, speeches by officials and items that are simply amusing or offbeat. Plus, his books provide a handy reference tool–a place to keep up with all the clippings of a year. I had already looked for the new version of this book at the Xinhua bookstores at Wangfujing and Xidan. A clerk I’d asked about it had told me no new version is out yet, and I’d scribbled in my notebook the publisher’s phone number intending to call to confirm that. So I was very happy to find a copy today.

Li’s book is published by China Financial and Economic Publishing House, which publishes a number of valuable books about economic matters in China. A young fellow in their booth today had recently returned from studying in France. I think he approached me to practice his English. At first he gave me the standard line about the books being only samples. I launched into an extended narrative in Chinese about how eager I have been to get a copy of Li’s book, and when I pointed out that two copies were on the shelf he agreed to let me buy one. I got his name and plan to stay in touch–I’d like to cultivate a contact in that publishing company.

The other thing I was happy to get is a book on the new PRC Securities Investment Funds Law (证券投资基金法, Zhengquan Touzi Jijin Fa). I have already written a short article on this law for China Law & Practice. However, before today I had not seen any new books on the law, even though it was passed in October. But I found a pamphlet version of the new law on display at the booth of China Democracy and Legal Publishing House (中国民主法制出版社, Zhongguo Minzhu Fazhi Chubanshe, a firm which seems to have no website). I was delighted to discover that besides the text of the law the pamphlet includes several reports of the NPC Legal Committee explaining changes between the final bill and earlier drafts of the law. The NPC Gazette sometimes includes these reports. They are extremely useful if you are trying to understand the way a draft law develops and the official rationale for certain changes. Besides the pamphlet, they had an interpretive guide to the law (《中华人民共和国证券投资基金法》释解及实用指南) which they also offered when I asked to buy the pamphlet. They were very friendly to me. One person particularly so; in fact, she asked for my contact information and requested that I give them advice about which US books on law they should seek to publish in China. They already have a Chinese person in the US doing such scouting, but it seems they would also like to have the opinions of a “real foreigner.”

I also saw a pamphlet on proposed changes to the PRC Constitution. It had a line by line exegesis of the proposed amendments. But the people at China Legal Publishing House (中国法制出版社, Zhongguo Fazhi Chubanshe, which belongs to the State Council) were not willing to part with their display copy, and they said they didn’t have another. They claim the pamphlet is already on the market, but I haven’t seen it in bookstores yet and doubt it has really been released, since the Constitution will not be officially amended until the NPC meets in March.

Although there is still no freedom of publishing in China with respect to certain matters, this eclectic book fair does illustrate that reader-driven publishing is flourishing in the PRC. In fact, the loneliest booth I saw, staffed by a sole employee, was the Party Building Reading [Materials] Publishing House (党建读物出版社, Dang Jian Duwu Chubanshe). The young man smiled when I asked for one of their tote bags; they were not in great demand. I carried it around the rest of the day, its plain blue design an anomaly amid the hyperactive contest for attention from the colorful bags of Business Week China and other publishers.

Revival of Shenzhen IPO Market?

January 7th, 2004

TCL’s current issuance of almost a billion shares on the PRC mainland is being conducted through the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. This is the first significant issuance in Shenzhen since Oct. 2000.

At that time IPOs were halted in Shenzhen in anticipation that a “second board” (er ban) or PRC GEM (chuang ye ban) would be established there. This Nasdaq-like market was to foster high-tech companies and the “main boards” (zhu ban) were reportedly to be consolidated in Shanghai.

Launching a PRC GEM is among those reforms that seem perpetually stalled (along with FIE listings, private company listings, selling off state-owned shares, allowing a QDII system and liberalizing interest rates for corporate bonds).

Earlier this year, the IPO ban in Shenzhen was believed to be on its deathbed, according to this story form the China Daily and this story from the English-language China Business Weekly. Consequently, this huge TCL issuance has stoked anticipation that Shenzhen will soon be back in the listing business.

But this story reports that CSRC officials have cautioned that there will be no IPO stampede in Shenzhen.

TCL Communications (TCL Tongxun) was previously listed in Shenzhen. Of the billion shares TCL is currently issuing, .6 billion are to go to new shareholders and .4 billion are to be exchanged for existing shares of TCL Communications, the previously Shenzhen-listed entity. “Technical reasons” are thus why this issuance is being handled through the Shenzhen Exchange, according to the CSRC official.

The article notes three other instances in which firms previously listed in Shenzhen issued new shares since Oct. 2000, suggesting the TCL deal therefore has little groundbreaking significance.

The article then observes that many commentators nonetheless persist in believing that this TCL issuance heralds a rebirth of listings in Shenzhen.

However, the article states that “thinking on many levels” continues to regard Shenzhen as the place for small and medium sized listings (by implication, not the place for a parade of behemoths like TCL).

The article also notes the price for the TCL shares has been determined through an online ordering process.

More Details on New IPO Sponsorship System

January 6th, 2004

The CSRC has released a notice providing more details on how it will operate its new rules on the IPO sponsorship (recommendation) system. The notice explains the sequence in which persons may seek to register for qualification as an agent of a recommending institution, based on current investment banking experience and position. Various CSRC forms are also attached to the notice, including the forms required to register as a recommending institution, the agent of one or to actually recommend a company for an IPO.

Previously, the CSRC engaged in a couple of rounds of de-regulation, eliminating batches of approval requirements. This was part of a general State Council initiative. Obviously, this new recommendation system adds layers of approval, moving in the other direction.

In other news, the central government has pumped some more money into two of the four major state-owned banks. This would appear to be part of their march towards public offerings.

The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and most of the major foreign wire services have now reported on the take-over of Southern Securities. None of them has shed any additional light on specific triggering events.

Southern Securities Taken over by Regulators

January 2nd, 2004

One of the largest PRC securities firms, China Southern Securities, has been taken over by government regulators, according to this PRC press report. The company will continue normal operations.

The report states only that the problems at Southern Securities are serious and that previous steps to fix them had proven inadequate. The management of Southern Securities was previously changed and it has already undergone a recapitalization, according to the report.

Southern Securities was the underwriter for the IPO of Macat Optics & Electronics Company (麦科特光电股份有限公司 ) in 2001. Macat falsified its accounting results to gain IPO approval, according to Chinese regulators. Earlier a PRC accounting firm has had its license revoked for involvement in the Macat affair.

Generally, PRC securities firms have struggled in recent years. The bear market has hurt their brokerage, underwriting and proprietary trading businesses. If a company used client funds inappropriately, it could be hard to now repay them given the declines in revenue sources. Like many large PRC financial firms, Southern Securities has explored partnering with foreign firms.

In November of 2003 the CSRC closed Fuyou Securities after it was found to have misued more than USD 400 million in client funds.

IPO Sponsorship System

January 2nd, 2004

Besides issuing new rules on the Stock Issuance Examination Committee as discussed below, the CSRC in late 2003 also issued new rules on the PRC’s IPO “sponsorship system.”

The Chinese text of the new rules is here. They are named the Provisional Measures on the Securities Issuance and Listing Sponsorship System (证券发行上市保荐制度暂行办法, Zhengquan faxing shangshi baojian zhidu zanxing banfa). A CSRC commentary on them is here. The new rules go into effect on February 1, 2004.

The PRC Securities Law requires that IPOs be underwritten by a CSRC-approved underwriter. Such underwriters are required to recommend (sponsor) companies for listing to the CSRC. This is supposed to involve making sure the company meets the listing requirements and complies with its disclosure obligations. The CSRC also requires that IPO candidates undergo a period of “coaching” prior to listing. The coach is usually the lead underwriter.

These new rules aim to beef up the sponsorship system so that underwriters better police the companies they help bring to market. The CSRC commentary on the new rules acknowledges that some underwriters have been complicit in fraudulent disclosure, conspiring with issuers to falsely package a listing entity.

The CSRC will now require that the organizations that recommend IPOs and the agents of such organizations register with the CSRC.

In other words, an IPO recommender must now be a CSRC-approved IPO sponsor, not just a CSRC-approved lead underwriter. The new rules also define the period for which the sponsor is “responsible” for the issuer’s representations, and the rules provide that the CSRC can give a cold shoulder to miscreant sponsors so that it refuses to accept IPO candidates from them if some previous recommendation was for a dud company.

Most of this sounds to me like the CSRC will be doing the same thing hoping for a different result.

If CSRC approval of individuals and organizations that serve as intermediaries in the securities markets was the right way to police such intermediaries, then there should be no substantial problem with intermediaries now since they already are subject to CSRC approval. Granting a securities company a certificate that declares it is an “approved sponsor” rather than or in addition to a certificate that declares it is an “approved lead underwriter” does not sound like a meaningful change.

Giving bad intermediaries a cold shoulder on subsequent dealing sounds like a good idea, though I think the CSRC could have done that without the new rules. It could have suspended or revoked the underwriting license of securities companies who engaged in fraud.

Under China’s rules on private securities litigation, securities companies can be subjected to private litigation for disclosure fraud in which they are complicit. A prerequisite of such suits is that the CSRC issue an administrative penalty concerning the fraud. By doing more of that, private litigation might provide better monitoring of intermediaries than more CSRC rulemaking.

World’s Best China Blog in English

January 2nd, 2004

I maintain the world’s best blog in English on Chinese securities regulation. This audacious statement must be true because I maintain the world’s only English blog on Chinese securities regulation.

Aside from this dubious distinction, I have become aware that a poll is being run to determine the best English language blog about China for 2003. The voting form is here.

The list provides an introduction to some really interesting China blogs, all of them of broader scope than my focus on PRC securities regulation (so my title is safe for now).

CSRC Issues New Rules for SIEC Operation, Discloses SIEC Meeting Information

January 2nd, 2004

After finishing my UMD teaching for the fall semester I took a holiday trip to sweet home Alabama where I enjoyed being with family, drinking sweet tea and eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I am now in Beijing and plan to be here for most of January. I’ve gotten a temporary membership at a very nice local gym to work off the holiday food binge. My CDMA wireless networking card from China Mobile is now back in service. Now I can again turn my attention to the ever-fascinating world of PRC securities regulation (I mean that without irony, which is perhaps an indication of how eccentric I’ve become).

The CSRC had a year-end spurt of activity. On Dec. 11 they promulgated these detailed rules concerning the operation of the Stock Issuance Examination Committee (the SIEC).

The SIEC is an approval authority for PRC IPOs and follow-on issuances by listed companies. The fundamental organizational rules of the SIEC were amended earlier in 2003, as I have previously discussed. Those new basic organizational rules are here.

Under the original regulations, the membership and meetings of the SIEC were kept secret. Under the new rules, the CSRC must announce in advance information about the SIEC’s meetings.

This is I believe the first such announcement ever made. It discloses the matters to be considered at an upcoming meeting and the names of SIEC members scheduled to participate. Attached to the announcement are declaration by the companies whose issuance applications were on the agenda that they had not engaged in any improper efforts to influence the SIEC. “We have made no bribes, given no gifts, etc.”

After the meeting, the CSRC reported here the results of the SIEC’s deliberations. On Dec. 30 the SIEC approved the IPO application of TCL and the application of BOE Technology Group to issue additional B-shares.

The CSRC has disclosed the membership of the revamped SIEC here.

The Wall Street Journal ran a nice little story in advance of the SIFL meeting.

I think it is good that the SIEC is now less opaque. This reflects perhaps a general salutary trend of incremental improvement in regulatory transparency in China. But I continue to think tweaking the SIEC is fundamentally not the right approach. There is of course a substantial moral hazard that prospective issuers will seek to bribe SIEC members in order to get approval to raise vast sums of money by publicly issuing securities. But the best way to eliminate this problem is to eliminate the SIEC, not to tweak its membership or operating procedures. Share issuance should be subject to disclosure requirements enforceable through meaningful private rights of actions, not subject to government approval. Liberate stock issuance in China.