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Specialized department to oversee futures market

By Wang Lan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-12-11 16:06

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has obtained approval to establish a specialized department to supervise the business operation of and trading by brokerages and traders in futures contracts.

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The move is widely seen as an essential step in the introduction of the long-awaited index futures trading.

This new department is expected to focus on overseeing institutional participants in futures markets, including domestic brokers and the Chinese units of foreign institutional investors.

Sources close to the situation said the new department would be given the priority to supervise institutional participants in the trading of index futures when it is introduced.

Some traders and analysts said the establishment of the new department would help shoulder some functions of the existing futures supervising arm under the CSRC, which would then focus on regulatory matters.

Before the start of financial futures trading, the proposed new department is expected to keep a close watch on issues relating to risk control by futures brokerages in offering innovative services to clients.