SHANGHAI, March 1 (Reuters) – China has launched a bond sales recording system, regulators announced on Sunday, removing an approval mechanism as part of a reform that makes it easier for companies to lift funds.
“The Chinese corporate bond market has entered a new era,” the Shanghai Stock Exchange said in a statement the day a revised securities law took effect to remove a legal barrier to the new system. .
Companies wishing to sell corporate bonds to the public should only send applications for listing to the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets said in separate statements.
Previously, this registration required CSRC approval. The exchanges will electronically review sales of corporate bonds to ensure that they comply with the rules.
Sales of corporate bonds would also adopt the registration system, said the state’s powerful planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Corporate bonds, issued primarily by Crown corporations and government-backed entities, no longer require the approval of local governments and only need to register with the NDRC.
Last year, China piloted the registration-based system for the first public offerings in its Nasdaq-style STAR market and promised similar reforms in other parts of the stock market.
It also seeks to relax the rules for funding companies in order to support an economy hard hit by the coronavirus epidemic, and encourages companies to issue so-called “virus viruses” to help fight the epidemic or to fight against its effects. (Report by Samuel Shen and David Stanway; editing by Clarence Fernandez)
