China's top legislature mulls first futures law

BEIJING -- Chinese lawmakers on Monday started deliberating a draft on the country's first futures law to regulate and foster the sound development of the futures market.

The draft was submitted at the ongoing session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, which is expected to give better play to the function of the futures market, promote market-based allocation of resources and safeguard the country's financial security.

Consisting of 173 articles in 14 chapters, the draft aims to stipulate futures trading, settlement and delivery systems, and establish related mechanisms to protect the rights and interests of futures traders.

It also regulates the running of institutions dedicated to futures operation, trading, settlement and service, and clarifies the supervision and management of the futures market.

China currently has 70 types of futures and 22 types of options in its futures market, with the total trading volume of commodity futures ranking first in the world for 11 consecutive years.

In 2020, trading volume of China's futures market hit 6.15 billion lots, with the total turnover amounting to 437.53 trillion yuan (about $67.4 trillion).