1. China's pension funds will be ready for investment in stocks and equities in 2016 after the government sets rules to regulate the change, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said Tuesday. Officials are investigating how to transfer funds from local governments to the provincial level and allocate funds to authorized institutions for investments, said Li Zhong, spokesperson of the ministry, at a press conference. China's pension funds, which account for roughly 90 percent of the country's total social security fund pool, had net assets of 3.5 trillion yuan at the end of 2014. Around 2 trillion yuan (315 billion U.S. dollars) of the funds' total assets can be invested in various products, said You Jun, vice minister of human resources and social security, in August.
2. The Shanghai Stock Exchange has strengthened requirements on information disclosure to curb speculation, asking listed firms to be specific about announcements that could affect stock prices. The Shanghai Stock Exchange said this week that it requires companies listed on the exchange to make detailed disclosures about risks and avoid overly positive statements about new share offerings, strategic agreements and name changes. Such announcements tend to draw speculation and could be misleading to investors when company disclosures focus too much on positive effects, without due reminder about risks. The Shanghai Stock Exchange also said listed companies tend to issue very general announcements regarding abnormal price swings. An amended rule for such filings will subject listed firms to more detailed disclosures.
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