A PROPOSAL to establish an offshore yuan-denominated stock exchange and build a Nasdaq-like bourse in Macao has been submitted to the Central Government for consideration, domestic media quoted a senior official from Guangdong Province as saying Sunday.

He Xiaojun, director of Guangdong’s Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau, said he expected the Central Government to approve the plan by mid-December, which marks the 20th anniversary of Macao’s return to the motherland.

A yuan-based stock market could help Macao diversify away from gambling, its main revenue source, and Guangdong, a hi-tech hub, is seeking to tap more capital for its hi-tech sector.

He said that Guangdong has 45,000 hi-tech firms but only 600 have their shares listed, underscoring that the stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen could not meet the sector’s needs.

“We helped the Macao government to make a plan for [setting up] the stock exchange, with the aspiration to make it an offshore yuan Nasdaq,” He was quoted as saying.

The South China Morning Post quoted the Monetary Authority of Macao as saying that a feasibility study was continuing into the establishment of a securities exchange.

The Central Government asked Macao to carry out a feasibility study on setting up a securities market “denominated and settled in yuan” in February when the city revealed its outline development plan for the Greater Bay Area.

Chan Sau San, chairman of the Monetary Authority of Macao, said the idea for a stock exchange in Macao would be considered as part of the wider development of the Greater Bay Area. (SD News)