Ex-Everbright trader's statements untrue: exchanges

Shanghai Stock Exchange and China Financial Futures Exchange on Wednesday dismissed ex-Everbright Securities trader Yang Jianbo's statements regarding their roles in an insider trading case last August, saying his comments "had many inaccurate points."

The latest development came after a Beijing Court on Tuesday accepted the lawsuit filed by Yang, former head of the strategic transaction department of Everbright Securities, to sue the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) that punished him for insider trading.

Yang, together with three other colleagues, were each fined 600,000 yuan (98,120 U.S. dollars) and banned from the securities market for life after the CSRC probe found they had committed insider trading.

At 11:05 a.m. on Aug. 16, 2013, due to a computer program error, Everbright Securities mistakenly placed 23.4 billion yuan worth of purchase orders for 180 ETF (exchange-traded funds), of which 7.27 billion yuan were concluded, according to Yang's indictment paper.

Yang reported to the CSRC Shanghai branch and the Shanghai Stock Exchange after the incident and later asked traders to sell short index futures and ETF funds to hedge risks according to the direction from Everbright Securities, the indictment paper said.

Yang argues that the CSRC punishment has violated the law and infringed on his legal rights. He has asked the court to revoke the punishment, according to the indictment paper.

Yang recently told the media that Everbright communicated with the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the China Financial Futures Exchange when making hedging transactions, and the two exchanges had not raised objections to what was later determined as "insider trading".

Regarding such comments, Shanghai Stock Exchange responded in its official weibo account that his words "have many inaccurate points".

"The exchange will file materials and evidence to related parties according to requirements," the account said.

Also on Wednesday, China Financial Futures Exchange described Yang's comments as "distorted and untrue".

The court has not announced when it will open the trial.