CSRC will need to show teeth in time

The China securities watchdog, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, reportedly conducted a series of seminars in Beijing recently for selected stockbrokers and investment bankers to brief them on the new IPO rules that, as expected, are based on the concept of self-regulation in disclosure and pricing.

Some participants were quoted as saying that the CSRC officials obviously tried their best, at the risk of sounding like broken records, to beseech their listeners at the seminars that it's the market participants' obligation to voluntarily observe the standard laid down in the new code.

CSRC's concern is understandable on the eve of the lifting the almost 12-month moratorium on IPOs. Market experts expect that there will be more than 200 mainland enterprises seeking to raise capital by issuing new shares for sale to the public in 2014. They are expected to raise a total of about 170 billion yuan ($27.85 billion) from their IPOs.