INVESTORS in China have been allowed to open multiple A-share trading accounts starting yesterday, the country’s clearing house said Sunday.

    The move will help support development and innovation in the capital markets, China Securities Depository and Clearing Co. (CSDC) said.

    Chinese stocks hit seven-year highs last week, shaking off investor concerns that a spate of looming initial public offering would drag down a recent bull run for mainland shares.

    “We will cancel the ‘one person, one account’ restriction for normal investors, and permit investors — according to their need — to open multiple A-share accounts on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses,” CSDC said.

    The clearing house added it would strictly control the process to ensure that only investors who had real need of multiple accounts would be allowed to open them.

    The reform means investors no longer face complicated procedures if they want to transfer their accounts to other brokerage firms. All they need to do is to open new accounts with other firms and the information will be transferred under a new system launched by CSDC in October.

    Dong Dengxin, head of the finance and securities research institute at Wuhan University of Science and Technology, said this will bring about competition on commission fees as investors will choose brokerages with low fees. (SD-Agencies)