China's securities watchdog on Friday expanded its market-entry ban on securities market rule-violators, its latest measure to improve the market.

In what experts described as a "long overdue" step, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said that senior management and controlling shareholders of listed companies and securities firms may face expulsion from the securities market if they breach the rules, the first time they have been included in the ban.

"It's a long overdue step," said Wang Lianzhou, a retired securities law professor.

"The controlling shareholders of those listed companies are often the masterminds and manipulators of the market through their listed units," he said.

"They should have been targeted before," Wang said.

The professor said the new regulation, to take effect on July 10, would at least put in place an effective deterrent to "these types of potential wrong-doers" in the securities market.

The new rules also apply to the senior management of listed companies and securities firms and to senior security fund managers as covered in the existing draft rules enacted in 1997.

Professionals in the securities service sector will also face the market-entry ban penalty if they violate the rules, according to the new regulation.

Under the new rules, offenders may face varying penalties depending on the severity of their acts.

Anyone who commits criminal acts or breaches that "seriously disrupt securities market order and lead to severe social consequences" or cause "very significant" losses to investors will be permanently expelled from the securities market, the securities regulator said.

Anyone who is found to have masterminded or implemented any "major" activities violating the laws or administrative regulations or securities regulator's rules may also face a lifetime market-entry ban to the securities market, according to the new rules.

Friday's move is the latest step taken by the top securities regulator to improve the stock market, which is rebounding from a five-year-long slump since the beginning of this year.

On May 29, the securities regulator ordered controlling shareholders of listed companies to return funds misappropriated from their listed units by the end of the year, a common problem in China's stock market.

A total of 33.6 billion yuan (US$4.2 billion) of misappropriated funds in 189 publicly traded companies were still in the hands of shareholders on June 1, according to figures released by the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the country's two bourses.

(China Daily June 10, 2006)