The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) yesterday said
it approved the New York Stock Exchange Group (NYSE), the world's
largest bourse, to set up a representative office in the
country.
The NYSE thus became the first foreign stock exchange to get the
government's go-ahead to establish such a presence.
The move is seen as fulfillment of one of China's commitments in
the first round of the Sino-US Strategic Economic Dialog held in
December, when China promised to allow foreign exchanges to set up
offices in the country soon.
Overseas exchanges will be allowed to promote their
organizations and conduct research through their offices, according
to a rule launched by the CSRC earlier in May.
The NYSE Group will first set up its representative office in
Beijing. Seven mainland companies have listed on its main board so
far this year.
Rival NASDAQ said yesterday that it had submitted an application
in June to the securities regulator to set up a Beijing office.
Xu Guangxun, chief representative of NASDAQ in China, said the
bourse hopes to get the regulator's approval soon.
NASDAQ has attracted 14 mainland companies to list on the bourse
since the beginning of 2007; and the tech-heavy bourse recently
launched a NASDAQ Portal system, a fully Web-based platform for
trading of 144A issues, a type of securities traded in the private
placement market.
(China Daily September 5, 2007)
