Shanghai exchange plans new board for start-up companies

The Shanghai Stock Exchange is planning to establish a new board to host innovative start-up companies potentially as soon as this year, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources. The Strategic Emerging Industries Board will host firms in industries favored by Beijing in its drive to foster innovation-driven growth, such as information technology, computer science, renewable energy and bioscience. It would launch once the mainland formally switches its listings approval system from regulator-run to one controlled by corporate leaders and market conditions, a reform expected to be approved by China’s rubber-stamp legislature in October. That would pose a fresh challenge to Shenzhen’s successful, Nasdaq-style ChiNext start-up board.