THE 2024 Lujiazui Forum opened in Shanghai on Wednesday, with China’s top financial regulators in attendance to offer insight into the country’s latest policies.

During his keynote speech at the forum’s opening ceremony, Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the country’s top securities watchdog, announced eight additional reform measures for the technology-focused STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which is positioned to nurture hardcore technologies such as integrated circuits and biomedicine.

The new measures will deepen existing reforms and are projected to further nurture tech innovation. They will improve the regulatory mechanism for issuance, underwriting, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, equity incentives and trading, he said.

The STAR Market-based product portfolio will be enriched through measures like the launch of more index-based products and the introduction of more exchange-traded funds. Efforts will be made to launch futures and options based on the STAR Market 50 Index when appropriate, according to the eight new measures released Wednesday.

The CSRC encourages companies to make full use of equity, cash, directional convertible bonds and consideration structures in share purchases for M&A activities, said Wu.

Li Yunze, head of the National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), said the organization will work with the Shanghai government to introduce a guideline to develop the reinsurance industry in the city. Insurance capital will make experimental attempts to invest in gold contracts traded on the Shanghai Gold Exchange.

Insurance capital should play a bigger role in supporting the development of strategic emerging industries, advanced manufacturing, “new infrastructure” and venture capital, he said.

“New infrastructure” refers to information technology-based infrastructure, covering seven major areas: 5G base station construction, ultra high voltage transmission, intercity high-speed railway and urban rail transit, new energy vehicle charging piles, big data centers, artificial intelligence and industrial interconnection.

The capital management regulations for qualified foreign institutional investors and renminbi qualified foreign institutional investors are being revised to make them simpler and more complete, said Zhu Hexin, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

Trading of government bonds in the secondary markets will be gradually included in China’s monetary policy toolbox, Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, said Wednesday. This will be part of the PBOC’s efforts to further improve the market-based interest rate control mechanism.

Pan further clarified such trading is not quantitative easing. It is positioned as a channel for base money injection and a liquidity management tool.

Such trading includes both buying and selling of government bonds and, combined with other tools, is expected to help sustain a suitable level of liquidity, he said.

Inaugurated in 2008, the Lujiazui Forum is an annual industry pageant where government officials, financial regulators, market mavens and scholars exchange views on hot topics.

During the opening ceremony Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund unveiled its Shanghai regional center, which is expected to strengthen the institution’s communication and cooperation with Asia-Pacific economies.

(SD-Agencies)