China securities regulator to investigate new types of gray margin finance

[March 25, 2016]  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's securities regulator said it will investigate increasing incidence of new types of "gray market" margin finance in the stock market, according to a statement on its official micro blog account on Friday.

Gray margin finance, which allow speculators to borrow money to buy stocks outside of the usual channels through brokers, was a major contributor to China's equity market bubble in early 2015. The ensuing crash was triggered in part by a regulatory crackdown on such activities.

In a separate blog statement, the China Securities Regulatory Commission also said that plans for a proposed emerging industries board needed more study.

The emerging industries stock board was first proposed by the State Council in 2015. But Chinese media said references to it were deleted from the nation's 13th Five Year Development Plan, leading some observers to speculate the idea would be scrapped.

(Reporting By Nathaniel Taplin)

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