As the “Mar. 15” International Day for Protecting Consumers’ Rights is approaching, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) holds the Awarding Ceremony of the 2013 “I’m a Shareholder” Activity and the Launching Ceremony of the 2014 “I’m a Shareholder” Activity. Among those attending are Liu Shian, Vice President of the SSE, award-winning representatives from over 20 securities companies and their business departments, representatives of listed companies, representatives of individual investors, and major financial and economic media.
“I’m a Shareholder” Activity is an important task of the SSE in investor education and protection. The activity has gained popularity among small and medium-sized investors, as well as listed companies, securities companies, and the media since its launching. Judging from the result of satisfaction survey, the degree of satisfaction of listed companies and the media exceeds 95%, that of small and medium-sized investors visiting listed companies exceeds 98%, that of anonymous online small and medium-sized investors is over 90%, and that of the SSE’s member units is more than 95%.
Highlights in the activity
Liu Shian says that the success of “I’m a Shareholder” Activity can not be achieved without the concerted efforts of all market participants. The SSE will continue the heat of last year’s activity and further improve all supporting measures with consistent supports from all sides, so as to build the “I’m a Shareholder” activity into a brand.
He then emphasizes the highlights of this year’s activity. First, the activity will continue to enhance the right of speech of small and medium-sized investors, and establish the system of the small and medium-sized investors’ satisfaction evaluation on quality of listed companies’ information disclosure, so as to make their information disclosure closer to needs of small and medium-sized investors. This is an important part for propelling the activity and also a key measure for urging listed companies to keep strengthening investor relation management. More transparent and better information disclosure of listed companies can not only reduce the information asymmetry of the capital market, but also improve small and medium-sized investors’ decision-making and reduce their trading cost, thus enhancing the efficiency of the capital market.
Second, the coverage of this activity will be expanded. The mode of the activity in the last year was “investors selecting listed companies by voting, and visiting listed companies under organization by the SSE”, while two new mechanisms will be introduced this year. The first is that listed companies can recommend themselves to the SSE; and the second is that securities companies are allowed to hold the activity with the SSE, which will better take account of securities companies’ customer service and further expand their participation. The holding of the SSE, coupled with the self-recommendation of listed companies and the joint holding of securities companies, will help to significantly expand the activity’s coverage.
Third, cooperation with the media will be strengthened. This year’s activity will rely on the mass media to explore the connotation of this activity and build the brand of “I’m a Shareholder” in full scale, so as to enhance the activity’s value. Besides, it will not only continue to strengthen its good cooperation with major financial and economic media, but also keep expanding the activity’s influence by virtue of online media, so as to enable more small and medium-sized investors who have no opportunities to visit listed companies to feel that they are becoming increasingly closer to listed companies and to make more people to enjoy the result of the activity.
Fourth, the rules and process of the activity will be optimized. The activity will optimize the selection of investors, and organize symposiums. In addition, it will, according to small and medium-sized investors’ evaluation on the information disclosure of listed companies, design more contents for the activity, enhance the participation enthusiasm of all market participants such as small and medium-sized investors, the media, and member units, and elevate the satisfaction of all parties concerned.
Active responses from all market participants
The first listed company visited by the investors in the activity last year is Shanghai Pudong Development (SPD) Bank, and investors all spoke highly of the activity in SPD Bank. This time, SPD Bank, as a representative of listed companies, holds that the activity will urge investors to erect the awareness of shareholders’ rights and build up a bridge between investors and listed companies, so that shareholders can learn about listed companies in a more perceptual way. The interactive communication will not only enhance investors’ trust in listed companies, but also urge listed companies to further do well in all work items.
Also attending the conference are representatives of “Enthusiastic Shareholders” from Zhengzhou, Henan Province. The activity has won good reputation among small and medium-sized investors. The number of investors participating in the online selection last year reached over 1.6 million, and finally over 200 of them were selected as “Enthusiastic Shareholders” by the SSE in accordance with online voting, on-site participation, and securities companies’ recommendation. Mr. Meng, a client of Central China Securities, was one of them. “The activity, which has gone on from 2013 to 2014, has boasted its organization and meaningfulness. We could feel the sense of honor and pride as shareholders. I hope that the activity will continue and bring happiness to individual investors, and shareholders can gain returns for their investment in the stock market, which contributes to boosting the growth of China’s economy.” says Meng.
In addition, as a supporting measure of the activity, the SSE has carried out the 2013 appraisal of the “I’m a Shareholder” activity for securities companies. Spokesman of China Galaxy Securities says that the activity has been carried out for a year since its launch. It could help investors to set up the awareness of being a shareholder and foster concepts of rational investment and value investing, which highly conforms to the connotation of “International Day for Protecting Consumers’ Rights”. As a member of the SSE, China Galaxy Securities will combine investor protection with customer service to fuel the progress of the activity.
The representatives present have heated talks on how to optimize the activity. They say that they will invest more, improve software and hardware facilities, and cement pertinence and effectiveness of all work items. They also hope that the SSE will continue to provide market participants with opportunities for experience demonstration and mutual talks, and establish and perfect communication mechanisms between investors and listed companies.