Shang Fulin, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) chairman, said on Friday the performance of the nation's 106 securities companies had been improved markedly as a result of an effective three year industry overhaul.

He made the remark at an industry meeting in Beijing, noting the asset value of the 106 securities companies totaled 350 billion yuan (51.14 billion U.S. dollars) through September.

Nearly 5 trillion yuan of clients' assets are managed by those brokers, according to Shang.

He said violations in securities trading had been curbed as the companies drew lessons from past experience and enhanced their risk management effectively.

The companies had also beefed up their fiscal strength and the securities trading runs in order.

China's brokers were once plagued by scandal, including stock price manipulation and insider trading since the capital markets were initiated in the early 1990s.

To prevent losses to small investors, the CSRC had stepped up supervision of brokers, and a number of securities companies had been fined or shut after being found involved in illegal trading.

Shang noted more pre-emptive measures were needed to prevent potential risks from exploding and the administrative supervision of the CSRC should function together with the self scrutiny of the companies.

(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2008)