Regulator quashes registration-based IPO rumors

The securities regulator on Friday quashed market rumors and stated that the examination and approval processes of new share listing will not change before the launch of the registration-based IPO system.

The statement was made after China's stock market tumbled by more than 6 percent on Thursday amid rumors that registration-based IPO system would be first applied to companies applying for ChiNext board, China's Nasdaq-style market, from March 1.

"It takes a period of time for China Securities Regulatory Commission to set up rules of registration-based IPO system after the country's top legislature's authorization, and the examination and approval processes of new share listing will not change before the registration-based IPO system is launched," said Deng Ge, a spokesman of China Securities Regulatory Commission, on Friday.

In December, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, authorized the State Council to adjust rules based on the securities law to allow stock listing to be changed from an approval-based system to a registration-based one starting from March 1.