(Yicai Global) Nov. 15 -- Preparations for the new tech innovation board have started, Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong said during a visit to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday.

The SSE has made a draft regarding the new stock market section, and the document may be released at the end of this month, an insider close to the bourse said. The SSE has not selected the first participants for the board yet, it said in a statement yesterday.

President Xi announced plans for setting up the new market during the opening speech of the China International Import Expo in Shanghai earlier this month. The government supports Shanghai in constructing an international financial center and a hub of science and innovation, Xi said, adding that this will steadily improve the fundamental institutions of the capital market.

Firms that want to join the new board should first find cornerstone investors to take up 5 percent of equity and commit to a lock-up period of three years, the insider said, predicting the rules for listing. Those requirements are akin to Hong Kong bourse's principles of cornerstone investors that it implemented in 2005.

"The tech innovation board should become an independent market which will undertake the important task of reforming the Chinese capital market," the SSE said, adding that this is why the board must follow a separate logic in terms of regulation. At the initial stage, the tech board seeks quality instead of quantity, the bourse added.

Editor: Emmi Laine