China fines IPO brokerage in fraud crackdown

The China Securities Regulatory Commission fined Minsheng Securities US$326,000 (RMB2 million) for failure to uncover falsified financial information submitted by Shanxi Tianneng Technology in a 2011 attempt to launch an initial public offering, Reuters reported, citing a statement on the regulator’s website. The CSRC also warned Nanjing Securities on similar grounds for its role advising Guangdong Xindadi Biotechology in 2012. The agency stopped approving IPOs late last year in an effort to bring transparency to the market and ensure the quality of companies allowed to list. The CSRC suspended Ping An Securities’ underwriting license in May for three months for a similar violation.