China’s securities regulator is in the process of finalizing rules for a new technology board on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which hopes to encourage Chinese tech firms, which have in the past opted to list in New York or Hong Kong, to list at home instead.
The new board, announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping at a trade event on Monday, will experiment with a new registration-based system for listing, Xinhua reported. According to Chinese financial news outlet Caixin, such a system has been floated in the past, but has yet to gain traction.
The current approval-based IPO (initial public offering) system has been criticized as inefficient, lacking market input, and susceptible to rent-seeking, prompting China’s high-profile tech firms to list in Hong Kong or New York.
While Xinhua indicated that regulators were in the process of finalizing the details, no timeline for launching the new board has been announced.