China will set up its third mainland stock exchange to serve private companies in its capital, Beijing, President Xi Jinping said Thursday, expanding official support for entrepreneurs.
The first mainland stock exchange since the 1949 opened in Shanghai in 1990 to raise money for state-owned companies. A second exchange opened in the southern city of Shenzhen, adjacent to Hong Kong, in 1991.
They have gradually added some private enterprises but still are dominated by state-owned companies. Private companies including e-commerce giant Alibaba Group have turned to Western exchanges and Hong Kong to raise money.
Shenzhen added a separate trading board in 2004 for private enterprises. Shanghai added a board for technology companies in 2019.
The planned stock exchange in Beijing will firmly adhere to the role of serving innovation-oriented small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as the latest step of the country's capital market reform, according to an official statement.