(Yicai Global) Sept. 25 -- The FTSE Group, the world's second-largest stock indexing firm, will announce on Sept. 27 whether or not it will start tracking Chinese mainland shares in its Global Equity Index Series.

The London-based group will unveil its decision on Sept. 27 at 7.30 a.m. Beijing time, after American stock markets have closed, it told Yicai Global exclusively. FTSE also plans to categorize Ireland as a frontier market and reclassify Romania as secondary emerging, rather than frontier, it added.

The group will hold a press briefing at the Shanghai Stock Exchange in the afternoon of the same day, a source close to the bourse added, saying FTSE Chief Executive Mark Makepeace, directors from the China Securities Regulatory Commission and customer representatives from several agencies will be present.

The CSRC is keen to get mainland shares into the GEIS as it could bring around USD500 billion in funding into a market already worth USD1.5 trillion, a securities trader said.

Given the figureheads present at the press conference, there is a high chance China stocks will be accepted to the GEIS, according to a worker at a Chinese company. Assuming the securities get the green light, FTSE will also disclose acceptance conditions, the date they will enter the index series and instructions for their transition, he added.

"If accepted, and FTSE follows MSCI practices, the shares will enter the FTSE indexes about a year after the announcement," he said. "FTSE will also discuss China's bond index categorization and prepare to track the Chinese bond market in its global bond index."

FTSE announced in May 2015 that it would begin a transition plan to get mainland shares, known colloquially as A-shares, into the GEIS and made a special index for such stocks. It re-assessed a possible entry to the GEIS last September, but refused access as it did not conform to requirements covering capital mobility and liquidation.