Regulator to revamp rules for '3rd board'

The China Securities Regulatory Commission will revamp the rules of the National Equities Exchange and Quotations board at the end of this year, and it will work on the equity exchange's market maker system in the second quarter of 2014, the CSRC said on Friday.

The National Equities Exchange and Quotations, the so-called "third board", is an equity exchange for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Deng Ge, a spokesman of the CSRC, said the agency will revise, release and implement the rules on unlisted public companies.

About 2,000 enterprises are in line for approval to join the board.

After the rules are released, which is to occur by the end this year, the third board will start taking companies' applications.

The State Council, China's cabinet, released a statement this month on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations, in which it said micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises from around the nation could be listed on the equity exchange system.

Previously, only unlisted enterprises from four high-tech industrial parks in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Hubei's provincial capital of Wuhan could apply to trade on the third board.

The CSRC said new trading procedures for the third board, including a market maker system, will be launched in the second quarter.

Li Yizheng, a vice-president at China Securities Co Ltd, said the market maker system brings vitality to a market. Securities firms will seek good companies under this system, which requires them to maintain a stable and liquid market for a particular security, because they will bear the risk of loss.

Deng also said the CSRC is formulating merger and acquisition rules for unlisted public companies.