(Yicai Global) Oct. 26 -- China has appointed Wang Jianjun, head of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and a 20-year veteran of securities regulation, as the new vice chairman of the country’s securities watchdog.

Wang will replace Yan Qingmin at the China Securities Regulatory Commission, as Yan is about to retire, the State Council announced yesterday.

Wang first joined the CSRC in 1997 and has served in many key positions in both local securities regulatory bureaus and the CSRC itself. In 2016, he was appointed general manager of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and last February became its chairman.

Wang will work with the CSRC’s new leadership team to introduce the registration-based initial public offering system to the main boards of the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses. With more than 3,100 listed firms and 190 million investors, they are much larger than Shanghai’s Star Market and Shenzhen’s Growth Enterprise Market, which already use the system, making the task more challenging.

Wang will be the longest-serving member of the CSRC’s new leadership to work on the registration-based IPO system. Industry insiders believe that thanks to his experience and understanding of the securities market, he is well placed to help manage the market.

During his time at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Wang introduced several major reforms including the launch of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect and the pilot registration-based system for the GEM.

When he became the SSE’s boss, the GEM had 570 listed stocks worth CNY5.2 trillion (USD819.5 billion). That has almost doubled to 1,045 stocks, ranking fourth among the world’s major GEM markets, with a total market cap of CNY13.1 trillion (USD2 trillion), second only to the Nasdaq.

The value of SSE main board-listed firms also climbed to more than CNY37 trillion (USD5.8 trillion) from CNY24 trillion five years ago.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione