Unified securities account platform launched

New regulation allows investors to trade on multiple bourses as well as through different broking firms

Investors in China can now trade securities through a single account at different brokerages and stock exchanges as the unified account platform - a mechanism designed to integrate different trading systems in the securities markets - was officially initiated on Wednesday.

Under the platform, Chinese investors can switch among different brokerages without opening new accounts and closing their existing ones. They can also use the platform to operate multiple sub-accounts for different types of securities and investment purposes, according to China Securities Depository and Clearing Corp Ltd, a State-owned clearing service company.

The new regulation came amid the continuous bull run of China's A-share market, which has rebounded by 18 percent in the past four months. Analysts said that it will substantially reduce the account opening cost for investors and is likely to attract fresh capital to the stock markets.

Previously, individual investors in China had to pay separate account fees if they wanted to trade in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. Under the new rule, individual investors are only required to pay a one-time fee of 40 yuan ($6.5) in order to trade in the markets.

Meanwhile, the new regulation will also remove the "one person, one account" restriction under which investors could only open one stock account per person at a certain securities firm.

While the new rule is only applied to institutional investors and clients of the Shanghai-Hong Kong "through train" investment plan, which requires a minimum fund of 500,000 yuan, analysts said it is not far from the complete abolishment of the "one person, one account" restriction as the country's securities regulator continues to adopt new measures to further liberalize the markets.

"We had a lot of clients calling in today to ask about the launch of new trading platform," said an employee at China Merchants Securities Co Ltd in Beijing. He said that most securities brokerages are going through a transitional period and investors will probably have to wait until the end of the month in order to be able to use the new service.

While investors are going to benefit from the unified trading platform, securities firms will likely face increasing competition over commission fees as investors now have greater freedom to switch to brokers that charge lower trading fees, analysts said.

"The launch of the unified account platform will accelerate the decrease of stock trading commission fees in the market. The competition among securities firms will substantially intensify in the coming months and the new regulation will trigger a reshuffle in the brokerage industry," securities firm Guotai Junan Securities Co said in a report.

In the meantime, the unified account platform will also provide the tool of big data to securities regulator and allow it to conduct effective tracking and analysis of irregular trading to prevent market manipulation, analysts said.