The Chinese government has launched a crackdown on hundreds of unregulated electronic equity and futures exchanges that have sprung up in recent years to trade everything from fine art and commodities to insurance products.
The country’s State Council, or cabinet, published a notice on Thursday announcing a campaign to “clean up and consolidate” the many exchanges that have been approved by local governments hoping to foster financial markets in their jurisdictions.
It said a task force had been set up under the securities regulator to deal with the problem and all exchanges engaged in “unauthorised and illegal” activities would be shut down.