China Allows Corp. Stock Option Plans

China has started allowing company-issued stock options, with over a dozen mainland corporates announcing plans to use stock option incentives. Six companies have received the formal go-ahead from the China Securities Regulatory Commission in recent weeks.

"Following exchange-traded warrants, this is another important step forward for China's equity derivatives market," said Winston Wenyan Ma, author of Investing in China--New Opportunities in a Transforming Stock Market, based in New York. Derivative officials see the move as a building block for development of a wide range of equity options. "Many experimental measures, such as the share offering mechanism for their settlement, will become important references for China's emerging OTC market in the future," added Ma.

Other recent liberalizing moves set to provide the backbone for equity derivatives in China include allowing short selling (DW, 7/17) and the expectation of index futures contracts