CHINA’S top securities regulator Wednesday unveiled more details about the new science and technology innovation board designed to boost financial reform and development of the country’s high-tech sector.

The tech board will ease the listing criteria, such as allowing firms that have yet to make a profit to list, but will also adopt higher requirements for information disclosure, Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), told a press conference.

Fang said the new board would follow a market-based approach to determine the prices, scale, market value and pace of new initial public offerings (IPO).

Institutional investors will be allowed to participate in the inquiry and price fixing of new IPOs, he said.

The new board will be launched on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) and experiment with registration-based IPOs. First proposed in November 2018 and approved in late January, it has since been pushed forward at full speed.

The establishment of the board is of great significance in promoting technological innovation, high-quality development of the economy and market-oriented reform of the capital market, said Yi Huiman, newly-appointed chairman of the CSRC. It will also help accelerate the initiative to build Shanghai into an international financial center, Yi said.

Preparation work for the new board has been in full swing, and the regulator will continue efforts to improve relevant supporting measures and risk response plans to ensure the steady launch of the board, Yi said.

The new board will have strict IPO standards and certain procedures and will not be flooded by listed firms, said Li Chao, also CSRC vice chairman. (Xinhua)