GEM board on the way

Preparations for China's growth enterprise market are well underway. The government is working on related regulations and rules for the final launch of the board. China's securities head Shang Fulin made the remarks on Saturday.

The chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Shang Fulin, made the remarks at the Sixth China Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Capital Forum in Shenzhen, southern China's Guangdong province. He said external conditions have matured enough for the launch of the growth enterprise market, or GEM, which targets the country's plentiful SMEs.

Shang Fulin, chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission, said, "The growth enterprises market will help boost the development of SMEs and promote their technological innovation. With China's stock market reforms in recent years, conditions are ripe for a multi-layer capital market, including a mainboard and a GEM board."

Currently, China has an SME board, which was launched in 2004 at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The government is working to transform the SME board into a GEM board, which will introduce a new financing platform for SMEs without lowering the listing requirements.

Shang says the CSRC is now working on the detailed rules and regulations, as well as technical support, for the final launch of the future GEM board. But no timetable has been made available.