SHANGHAI, Oct 27 (Reuters) - China's securities regulator is planning to simplify the structure of trading boards on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange by merging the main board with the SME board, business publication Caixin reported on Tuesday, citing regulatory sources.
The listing and regulatory rules of the main board and the SME board for small- and medium-sized enterprises are identical, so there is no need to treat them differently, the report said.
Apart from the main board and the SME board, the exchange also houses the ChiNext for tech start-ups.
China this year reformed the ChiNext board by introducing a U.S.-style listing mechanism aimed at facilitating public share sales.
Shenzhen's main board is currently home to 469 listed firms with total market capitalization of 8.8 trillion yuan ($1.31 trillion), while 982 stocks are traded on the SME board with combined market value of 13 trillion yuan.
($1 = 6.7029 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)
