Our reporter Wu Xiaolu
Recently, securities firms and investment banks have frequently received regulatory fines.
On November 25, the China Securities Regulatory Commission notified the special inspection of the internal control and integrity of the investment banking business of 8 securities companies, and also issued 7 investment bank fines against relevant personnel such as Huajin Securities on the same day.
According to an incomplete review of the website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, since the beginning of this year (as of November 27), only the China Securities Regulatory Commission (excluding local securities regulatory bureaus) has issued 40 investment bank fines, of which 17 have been issued since November.
"Regulatory authorities have greater penalties for investment banking business inspections and more detailed content." Talking about this year's investment bank fines, Tian Lihui, dean of the Financial Development Research Institute of Nankai University, said in an interview with a reporter from the "Securities Daily" that this reflects my country's regulatory authorities. Continue to uphold the concepts of "strict supervision" and "zero tolerance".
After sorting out the above 40 investment banking business fines, the reporter found that this year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission will investigate and deal with investment banking business in more detail.
General internal control problems and the imperfect prevention and control mechanism of honest business risk are still the main reasons for punishment. In addition, the performance of sponsor projects in the year of listing has changed. There are problems in the mechanism, and the investment banking business has not strictly implemented the avoidance requirements, etc., and will also be punished.
In terms of remuneration, for example, the CSRC mentioned in the reason for the punishment of Huajin Securities that “the income deferred payment mechanism was not strictly implemented”, and the punishment document against a securities firm in Anhui mentioned that “the salary of some full-time compliance personnel in the investment bank line did not meet the standard. ".
In addition, a number of securities firms and investment bankers were punished for "failing to re-perform the core procedures after substantial revisions to the documents submitted to the outside world."
If the sponsor representative of Yefeng Pharmaceutical revises the application documents approved by the company without authorization, fails to re-perform the approval procedures as required by the company, and is deemed inappropriate by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, he will not be allowed to serve in the securities company's securities issuance and listing sponsorship related positions within 6 months Or actually perform the above duties.
"From the perspective of the reasons for the punishment, the supervision department has conducted more in-depth inspections. Compared with before, the enforcement of punishment is stricter." An investment banker told the "Securities Daily" reporter. Be a good "gatekeeper" and improve the quality of listed companies from the source.
From the perspective of punishment measures, most of the investment bank fines are administrative supervision measures such as ordering corrections, supervisory talks or issuing warning letters, but there are 6 fines related to "prohibited business", involving the suspension of investment banking business of securities companies, and the sponsor representatives are temporarily not allowed to issue administrative licenses Relevant documents, or the sponsor representative is temporarily identified as an inappropriate candidate, and is not allowed to hold positions related to the investment banking business of securities companies, and the "prohibition" period is generally 3 months or 6 months.
“Warning letters or regulatory talks are cautionary. Suspension or industry bans are punitive. Suspensions can have a significant impact on a company’s revenue and reputation, and industry bans can have a severe blow to a professional’s career .” Tian Lihui said.
In fact, the regulatory authorities have strengthened the punishment of securities companies and investment banks, with the purpose of urging them to return to their positions and fulfill their responsibilities, to ensure good entry barriers, and to improve the quality of listed companies from the source.
Recently, Yi Huiman, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, stated at the Financial Street Forum that abiding by the responsibility of the "gatekeeper" is the basic requirement for sponsor intermediaries in the world. The bottom line is to select real companies, and the level is to select excellent companies.
However, some domestic institutions have not changed much. They still pay too much attention to "approvability" and not enough attention to "investability", and some even "go through the barriers with illness".
The above-mentioned investment bankers said that as long as the domestic IPO business has been approved, there are basically no problems in the issuance process, which has caused domestic investment banks to pay more attention to "approvability".
Therefore, to enhance domestic investment banks' emphasis on "investability", the regulatory authorities need to consider it comprehensively, improve the whole chain mechanism including the issuance system, and fundamentally change the profit-driven mechanism of investment banks.
"In the future, with the orderly advancement of the reform of the registration system, large, medium and small securities companies need to have their own core competitiveness, rather than focusing on the current homogeneous channel business." Talking about the future development trend of investment banks, the above-mentioned investment bankers believe that, The domestic investment banking business will gradually concentrate on top brokerages, while small and medium-sized brokerages need to find another way to provide customers with more distinctive services and develop boutique investment banks.
(Securities Daily)