Shenzhen's main, SME boards set to merge

China will merge the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's main board and small and medium-sized enterprise board together as the latest reform to boost financial support for enterprises, the country's top securities regulator said on Friday.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has approved the exchange's request to merge the Main Board and the SME Board, said Pi Liuyi, deputy director of the commission's department of market supervision.

The move will impact the more than 1,400 companies listed on the two boards, or over one-third of total A-share listed companies.

The SSE's Main Board and SME Board have played a positive role in serving the real economy, but problems have emerged, including the two boards becoming similar and the Main Board's company structure becoming rigid, Pi said at a news conference.

"Therefore, the merge is a problem-oriented reform. It will help optimize the structure of SSE's equity markets and form a pattern whereby the Main Board and the ChiNext focus on different enterprises and complement each other, better meeting the financing needs of enterprises in different development stages," Pi said.

Gao Li, a CSRC spokeswoman, said the commission is studying with related parties to establish a national trading venue of intellectual property rights and the property rights of science and technology in Shenzhen, as part of the efforts to implement the country's plan of building a high-standard market system.