SGX targets shady Chinese companies in bid to boost corporate governance

Over 40% of trading queries are directed at S-chips.

Chinese companies on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) are facing extra scrutiny from the bourse as its new management attempts to improve corporate governance that could help boost flagging volumes and revive listings, according to a report by Reuters.

With the mid-year appointments of a new CEO and a former white-collar crime police chief as its top regulatory officer, and armed with enhanced regulatory powers since October, SGX is focusing on so-called 'S-chips' for problems such as questionable accounting and inadequate disclosures, and has vowed to whip them into shape.

A review by Reuters of regulatory filings showed that more than 40 percent of SGX's queries so far in 2015 were directed at Chinese companies, even though they only make up 16 percent of the 771 firms listed on the exchange.

Read the full report here.