New Third Board to face tighter scrutiny

The securities regulator has vowed to crack down on the illegal practices on China's New Third Board, the pilot national share transfer system for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The board's explosive expansion, which has seen its market value top 1 trillion yuan ($160 billion), rising from just 800 million yuan two years ago, has sounded alarm bells with the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The regulator will focus on trading irregularities including the violation of information disclosure and trading rules, investor requirements, insider trading, as well as insufficient due diligence by intermediary financial institutions, said spokesman Zhang Xiaojun.