China promotes establishment of off-exchange market

BEIJING - China will push forward the development of a national off-exchange or over-the-counter (OTC) market to meet growing financing demand of enterprises, a senior securities official said on Saturday.

Yao Gang, vice chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), made the remarks at a seminar here on the country's capital market.

China's stock market is now based on bourses, but exchange markets alone can't meet the country's growing financing demand, Yao said.

Security regulators will accelerate the establishment of a national OTC market, and lower the threshold of entering the market for enterprises especially small and medium-sized ones, Yao said.

In contrast with exchange trading, OTC trading is done directly between two parties without facilities or supervision of an exchange. The price struck by the two sides is not necessarily made public in an OTC trade.