New regulations governing how brokers connect to trading information systems officially came into force on August 28. The Securities Association of China and the Asset Management Association of China jointly released the Trial Standards for the Management of Brokerage Trading System Access, which take effect immediately upon publication.

The trial standards, comprising five chapters and 33 articles, establish comprehensive regulatory requirements covering everything from entity admission and behavioral prohibitions to process management and technical specifications. A key provision mandates that securities firms conduct system access operations in accordance with laws and regulations, provide access services prudently, and treat all access clients fairly. The rules explicitly prohibit brokers from offering differentiated technical or business resource arrangements to specific access clients.

The regulations place firm responsibility on securities companies for managing external system access, requiring them to conduct end-to-end penetration management throughout the entire process, thoroughly verify investor qualifications, and fully validate the functionality of relevant systems. During the access process, brokers must diligently fulfill their management duties, strictly adhere to existing securities market trading regulations, rigorously control risks, and ensure that system access remains compliant, secure, and stable at all times.

Following the release of the standards, securities firms are now required to establish and improve their internal systems for managing access mechanisms, complete all trading system functions, strengthen oversight of system access behavior, and effectively guard against both business compliance and technical security risks. Qualified securities companies may submit filing applications to the Securities Association of China.

The announcement accompanying the new standards states that the regulations were jointly drafted to strengthen management of brokerage trading information system access and to maintain order and fairness in the securities market. The document was reviewed and approved by the seventh meeting of the Eighth Council of the Securities Association of China and by the Fourth Council of the Asset Management Association of China through written procedures, and was filed with the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

The new rules simultaneously repeal the earlier Standards for Evaluation and Certification of External System Access for Securities Companies (issued on June 12, 2015), marking a complete regulatory transition to the updated framework.