From February 18 to 19, the China Securities Regulatory Commission held a series of symposiums, at which it was mentioned: "It is recommended to strictly control IPO access, strengthen the supervision of the whole process of listed companies, resolutely clear out unqualified listed companies, fundamentally improve the quality of listed companies, and increase investment returns." At the same time, the China Securities Regulatory Commission has recently issued a number of "fines" for violations of laws and regulations in the sponsorship process of securities firms, reflecting the trend of comprehensively strengthening regulatory law enforcement and investor protection.
The sponsor representative of the brokerage firm (hereinafter referred to as the "sponsor agent") plays an important role in the IPO access gate. Judging from the current industry ecology of insurance agency, the number of insurance agency personnel in the industry has exceeded 8,600. However, there are 52Although 01% of the insurance agents have obtained the qualification of insurance agents in recent years, they do not have actual sponsorship projects under their names. At the same time, with the expansion of the insurance team, many problems have also been exposed, and the practice ability of the insurance agency still needs to be continuously improved.
Baodai "newcomers" continue to pour in
2024 is the twentieth year of the implementation of the sponsorship system, and when the sponsorship system was implemented in 2004, there were only 609 practitioners in the first batch of sponsorship lists. Since the "opening of the gate" in 2020, the insurance agency access threshold has been superimposed, and the promotion of the registration-based reform has led to the increase in the reserve of insurance agency talents, and as of February 21, 2024, there has been a net inflow of 4,877 insurance agents in about four years.
In accordance with the provisions of the "Sponsorship Business Rules of ** Companies", the China ** Industry Association has established a classification mechanism for the list of sponsor representatives, and publicized the comprehensive practice information of sponsor representatives by category. As of February 21, the number of insurance agents in the industry was 8,687, and the latest "Sponsor Representative Classification List A (Comprehensive Practice Information)" showed that there were 8,337 insurance agents who met the basic requirements of the level evaluation test and had no illegal and untrustworthy information, accounting for about 96% of the total number, and the overall professional characteristics of practitioners were more significant.
From the perspective of the industry pattern, in the investment banking business where the Matthew effect is prominent, the strong brokerage insurance agency team continues to expand and the number of people has increased more significantly. Among them, CITIC** has the largest number of insurance agents, reaching 628 people; The number of insurance agents of China Securities Construction Investment, CICC, Haitong ** and Huatai United also exceeded 400, with 595, 520, 420 and 409 respectively. However, due to the large number of sponsorship projects and the large number of insurance agents, there are not a few people with illegal and untrustworthy information.
Zheng Zhigang, a professor of finance at the School of Finance of Chinese University, said in an interview with reporters, "Intermediaries such as brokerages are known as the gatekeepers of the capital market, and the insurance agents in the institutions play a vital role in helping high-quality companies go public." ”
Adrian Cheng further said that under the registration system, the power to make value judgments, votes and choices about companies is mainly exercised by the market and investors. The quality of a broker-sponsored project is closely related to its reputation and investor trust. Recently, the regulatory authorities have issued a number of fines for violations in the sponsorship process, and the market has also paid attention to them. Brokerages have the need to build a good reputation, and the market's response will force brokers' insurance agents to strengthen their verification efforts, perform their duties of investigation and disclosure of material information more dutifully, and protect the interests of investors.
The ability of insurance agency practice needs to be continuously improved
Recently, the regulatory authorities have frequently raised the strict IPO access gates, and required to further consolidate the "gatekeeper" responsibility, intermediaries need to be diligent and conscientious in order to achieve steady and far-reaching results, and do a good job in the entrance of listed companies, which puts forward higher requirements for the practice ability of the insurance agency, in addition, the insurance agency also needs to have a wealth of professional knowledge and keen market insight.
From the perspective of sponsoring projects, there are 251 sponsors who have sponsored more than 10 projects, accounting for 2 of the total number9%。Several investment banking veterans performed well, and the number of projects sponsored by Zhao Hong, the insurance agent from Ping An**, reached 25, ranking first; Chen Shumian from CITIC** and Zou Wenqi from Ping An** both followed with 19 sponsors.
However, the number of sponsors who have sponsored projects under their names is 4,169, accounting for 47 of the total number99%；There are 4,518 people who have not had a warranty project under their names, accounting for 52 of the total number of people01%。New insurance agents may face many difficulties in the course of practice, such as insufficient understanding of the company's business model and financial status, and difficulty in accurately assessing the company's listing potential.
With the growth of the number of insurance agents, the problems exposed cannot be ignored. As of February 21, in the past three years, a total of 267 insurance agents have been subject to the administrative supervision measures of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, disciplinary actions or self-discipline management measures of industry self-regulatory organizations, and a number of leading investment banks have more than 10 insurance agents on the list, and the practice quality of some insurance agents needs to be further improved.
In addition, there are 171 people in the insurance agency who do not meet the basic requirements of the professional ability level evaluation test results. In addition, although the test results of the evaluation of the professional competence level of some sponsors did not meet the basic requirements, the sponsor institution where they worked issued a written explanation and provided sufficient materials to verify their professional competence level.
Under the comprehensive registration system, with the changes in the market environment, the responsibilities and roles of sponsors should also keep pace with the times, and for sponsors, professional quality and professional ethics are equally important. Cao Zhe, chief investment officer of Ai Wen Zhiluo, said in an interview with reporters that in terms of professional quality, the current background of IPO strictness requires sponsors to have in-depth research capabilities, be able to screen out truly high-quality enterprises, and have an in-depth understanding of the profitability, growth, and industry status of enterprises to ensure the smooth progress of the project.
Cao Zhe believes that in addition, it is also necessary to have a rigorous awareness of risk prevention and control, and have keen risk identification and prevention and control capabilities for various potential problems of the enterprise to ensure that the project is carried out under the premise of compliance.
In terms of professional ethics, it is necessary for the insurance agency personnel to adhere to the bottom line of professional ethics, be responsible for enterprises, investors and the market, earnestly perform their gatekeeping duties, ensure the accuracy and transparency of project information, and avoid the problems of "passing through the customs with illness", "withdrawing after checking" and "changing performance" in the IPO application process. Cao Zhe added to reporters.