China has dealt with 30 heavily indebted securities firms since 2004, said
the China Securities Regulatory Commission on Thursday.
Of the total, 24 were closed or dissolved. The rest were subject to other
solutions, such as capital infusions, stock ownership transfers or
restructuring.
The commission said more than 90 percent of China's securities dealers now
meet government requirements in financial conditions.
The government demands that the net capital of a Chinese security company
must be at least 8 percent of its debts.
China's securities brokers have been found illegally appropriating customers'
funds for investment, which often result in losses and company debt, especially
in the previously bearish Chinese stock market.
The government plans to entrust investors' funds to commercial banks for
independent management. The new system will be fully implemented out next
August.
The recently rising stock market has boosted the profits of securities firms,
which is expected to end the whole industry's consecutive losses for the past
four years.
By the end of October, 92 of the 107 securities companies had recorded
profits, with industry profits at 18 billion yuan (2.25 billion U.S. dollars),
according to the commission.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, a major index of Chinese shares,
broke the 2,600-point mark on Thursday morning, mainly powered by bluechips.
The index continued climbing to close at 2632.990 points on Friday morning,
2.55 percent up from the previous close.