Beijing Stock Exchange marks 3rd anniversary
Monday marked the third anniversary since the establishment of the Beijing Stock Exchange (BSE) was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the first bourse based in the capital city, at the China International Fair for Trade in Services in September 2021. Based on various institutional innovations and market reforms, the BSE has developed rapidly since its inception, and has become an accelerator that's turbocharging the growth of innovation-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Analysts envision the BSE evolving into a well-regulated, influential and dynamic stock market over the next few years, noting that improved capital market services for the country's sci-tech innovations will contribute to the development of new quality productive services in China and the country's economic upgrade and transformation.
Within about three years, the BSE has guided significant capital flow to SMEs engaged in technological breakthroughs, advanced manufacturing and green development, becoming an important force driving the development of new quality productive forces and specialized, high-end and innovation-driven SMEs, or referred to as "little giants."
Latest data from the BSE showed that the number of eligible investors has exceeded 7 million, with institutional investors including private equity, public funds and insurance firms, domestic news outlet Yicai reported on Monday.
As of Sunday, 251 companies are listed on the bourse, with the combined market capitalization hitting 300 billion yuan ($42.23 billion). High-tech companies account for more than 90 percent of the listed companies, the data showed.
"Different from Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, the BSE is a market more focused on early-stage, small, and innovative companies. Setting up the BSE is of vital importance in creating a multi-level capital market, improving support for SMEs, and promoting innovation-driven development," Wan Zhe, an economist and professor at the Belt and Road School of Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times on Monday.
Over the past three years, the development of BSE has always followed its strategic positioning and development goals, with multiple trading systems rolled out and various investors participating in market trading, Wan said.
"The BSE is a perfect platform through which SMEs can gain access to capital and then expand investment in research and development (R&D) and production," a general manager with a Beijing-based new material company told the Global Times on Monday. The manager declined to be named since the company is in the process of stock flotation on the BSE.
The launch of the BSE came only two months after China announced the plan for setting up a new stock exchange, a move widely welcomed by the market as it aims to address the long-standing financing conundrum of SMEs.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission in September 2023 released a 19-point set of guidelines to drive the high-quality development of the BSE, calling for listings of better-quality companies, more mutual-fund products to track the market and greater participation by overseas investors.
"Looking ahead, the BSE should accelerate the listing of high-quality innovation enterprises, especially by expanding the fundraising channel for 'little giants,' so as to form a reasonable market scale. Meanwhile, efforts are needed to strengthen market foundation, including law improvement, smooth delisting and investor rights protection," said Tian Xuan, vice president of the Tsinghua University PBC School of Finance.
The BSE should further improve capital market services, for example, rolling out BSE-themed creative investment products, boosting its opening-up and introducing long-term and overseas capitals, in a bid to sustainably spark market vitality and gather more high-quality innovation enterprises, according to Tian.
In January 2024, the corporate and enterprise bond market of the BSE started trading, marking a key step in the bourse's high-quality development. It only took 87 days from the release of relevant rules to bond trading, as the market once again witnessed the "speed of the BSE."
"The Chinese economy has shifted toward a stage of high-quality development and is currently at a critical period of transforming its economic development model. At the crucial moment, the BSE can take the Nasdaq Stock Market as a benchmark to step up support for tech innovations so as to contribute to the country's industrial upgrade and high-quality growth," Wan said.
In April, the State Council released a new guideline on strengthening regulations, forestalling risks and promoting the high-quality development of the capital market, which will provide strong guarantees for the healthy, long-term development of the country's capital market.