Hopes pinned on OTC

Tianjin Binhai New Area is working on the detailed regulations for the country's first OTC (over-the-counter) market, with the threshold for companies seeking trade in the market set to be even lower than that for the Growth Enterprise Board, experts said at a financial forum in Tianjin yesterday.

"We are still finalizing the regulations, but the requirements will sure be much lower than those for the main board and even the Growth Enterprise Board," said Cui Jindu, vice-mayor of Tianjin.

The OTC market is expected to help small and medium-sized enterprises raise capital. China has around 10 million SMEs, accounting for nearly 99 percent of registered enterprises. But it is usually hard for them to raise money from financial institutions and most of them cannot afford to list in Shanghai or Shenzhen.