(Yicai Global) Dec. 14 -- The rapid rise of its Star Market has hoisted Shanghai Stock Exchange’s total market value above Japan’s Tokyo Stock Exchange this year for the first time to make it the world’s third-largest bourse after the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market, Liu Ti, deputy general manager of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, said yesterday.

A total of 203 new companies have gone public on the SSE, raising CNY320 billion (USD48.9 billion) in the first 11 months, with both figures ranking it first in the world, Liu said at the 2020 Shanghai Finance Forum held yesterday. The Star Market’s cumulative initial public offering financing exceeded CNY280 billion since the first set of companies listed in July last year.

After over 500 days since its founding, the Star Market now has 202 listed firms, with total market capitalization of about CNY3.2 trillion (USD489.3 billion), and has initially exerted an aggregation and demonstration effect mainly in the integrated circuit, biomedical and high-end equipment manufacturing industries, Liu said.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange will continue to reform and innovate in terms of information disclosure, stabilize its supervision and delisting systems, and strive to develop the Star Market into maturity within two to three years in the next step. It will also steadily promote the implementation of a registration system on its main board based on the experience of the Star Market, Liu added.

China’s main board market has adopted an approval-based IPO system, under which the China Securities Regulatory Commission decides whether an issuer is qualified for listing. The Star Market piloted the registration system for the first time, where the SSE reviews the authenticity of the information submitted by an issuer and no longer makes a judgement based on the company’s value. The Shenzhen Growth Enterprise Market also introduced a pilot registration system in August this year.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange is also the world’s largest exchange bond market, with a current bond balance of CNY13 trillion. Its total issuance this year will be about CNY6 trillion. In addition, its Exchange Trade Fund market’s size ranks second in Asia, Liu added.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Ben Armour, Xiao Yi