Big data analysis helps improve regulators' work

Information technology and big data analysis are becoming increasingly effective tools for the nation's securities regulator to identify and crack down on insider trading.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission said on Friday that it had identified 375 insider trading cases through big data analysis since mid-2013, up by 21 percent from the previous 18-month period.

Among the cases, 142 have been officially investigated by law enforcement authorities, up 33 percent, according to the CSRC.

The regulator on Friday also announced the launch of a data transmission and sharing platform that fully covers the country's securities and futures industries and connects the regulators with all major market players including stock exchanges, brokers and banks.

This system represents a major step in improving the information and technology infrastructure of the country's financial industry, and it will facilitate a much more effective data-based regulatory approach, Deng Ge, a CSRC spokesman, said at a news conference on Friday.

Dong Dengxin, director of the Finance and Securities Institute at the Wuhan University of Science and Technology, said that the creation of the new platform and the use of big data will substantially improve the efficiency of tracking market irregularities and reduce administrative costs for the regulator.

"Market manipulation and insider trading have always been difficult for the regulator to identify. But big data analysis and a better information-sharing system have made the task much easier, and that is why we are seeing a greater number of illegal cases exposed recently," he said.

Drawing on big data, the regulator has identified 43 listed companies and 125 individuals that engaged in insider trading since mid-2013, and these cases have been referred to the police, the CSRC said.

Dong called for unified regulation of the country's securities and futures industries to improve regulatory efficiency and data-sharing among government agencies.

At present, regulations in the securities and futures sectors are enforced separately.

China launched in October a unified stock account platform, which represents a mechanism designed to integrate different trading systems in the securities markets.

It allows investors to trade through a single account among different brokerages and stock exchanges, making it easier for regulators to track and prevent illegal market activity.