CHINA will come down hard on insider trading and other market manipulations even as the country drums up its direct-financing market, including bond and capital market, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in Beijing yesterday.
Expanding a multi-layer capital market is an essential part of China's financial reforms, he told a forum organized by web portal Sina.com.
"We will continue to improve the stock markets ... and reduce administrative approval," Zhou said. "We will also strictly punish violations such as insider trading, market manipulation, fraud in initial public offerings, and misleading statements."
China will also raise the proportion of direct funding, by developing the bond, stock and equity markets, he revealed.
Zhou called for financial reforms pertaining to financial institutions, exchange rates, interest rates, and the yuan's convertibility.
The People's Bank of China will prioritize stabilizing prices as the goal of monetary policies, and will use more market-based tools to maintain a "reasonable" social financing scale to avoid drastic ups and downs in economic expansion, the governor said.
Also yesterday, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued new rules, urging fund houses to step up inspections against insider trading.
Fund management companies should establish a strict system to recognize, report and punish insider trading activities, and the regulator will improve its mechanism to strike at and prevent insider trading, the CSRC said.
Landmark building should respect the public's feeling