Shenzhen Stock Exchange to clamp down on 'VIP channels' for HFTs

Source: Shenzhen Stock Exchange

A discussing-meeting was held today by Shenzhen Stock Exchange in hands with the Securities Brokerage Commission to seek advice and hear from the industry regarding the issue that some securities companies opened so-called "VIP" trading channels for its clients.

It is introduced that two steps should be taken before investors' trading orders entering into the trading host for matching:

first, securities companies receive investors' orders via counter systems, then declare to the stock exchange via PBU (Participant Business Unit) and STG (Securities Trading Gateway);

second, the trading host of stock exchanges deals with orders from all trading channels following the principle of time priority and fair trading rules.

So far, some securities companies opened so-called "VIP" trading channels for clients with large capital or frequent trading, such as offering private technical facilities (PBU and STG) so that their clients would gain certain time advantage in making trading declaration in extreme cases, the first trading day for IPO share listing for example. In consequence, the securities offices offering such services were frequently reported in the public information about the first trading day of IPO shares, which has drawn extensive attention from all parties. SZSE has attached great importance to this issue and held the discussing-meeting to study and analyze the market concerns on the basis of previous researches.

As expressed by securities companies attending the discussing-meeting, the above service meets the needs of professional investors with large capital and frequent trading, and caters for the strategy of differentiation customer services. However, it also brings some new problems, such as the conflict between differentiated services and market fairness, system transparency related to the differentiated services and so on. SZSE will, together with relevant regulators and self-discipline organizations, conduct in-depth research, actively adapt to market competition and industry innovation, and maintain "the three-fair principles" of the market.

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