Has the China Securities Investor Services Center Exercised Its Rights to Protect the Interests of Minority Shareholders:Evidence from Controlling Shareholders'Share Pledging
This paper takes controlling shareholders'share pledging as the entry point to test the protection effect of CSISC's exercise of rights on mi-nority shareholders'interests.It is found that the exercise of rights by the CSISC can effectively inhibit controlling shareholders'share pledging,and can more effectively inhibit non-supportive share pledging than supportive share pledging,which reduces the number of connected transactions and increases cash dividend payments,and is in line with the governance objective of protecting the interests of minority shareholders.Mechanism tests show that the ex-ercise of rights by the CSISC constrains share pledging by increasing the active participation of minority shareholders and increasing media attention.Based on the textual features of the exercise,it is found that the greater the number of questions,the more detailed the content and the focus on internal govern-ance issues during the exercise of rights by the CSISC,it is more likely to reduce the controlling shareholders'share pledging and non-supportive share pledging behaviours.Based on the firm characteristics,it is found that the impact of CSISC on share pledging is more pronounced in non-state-owned firms,firms with low levels of investor protection,and firms with low institutional investor shareholdings.The conclusions of this paper validate the effec-tiveness of CSISC exercise,enrich the research on the consequences of minority shareholders'participation in governance,and provide empirical evidence on how to restrain controlling shareholders'share pledging behaviours.
Exercise of Rights by the China Securities Investor Services Center(CSISC)Share PledgeProtection of the Interests of Minority ShareholdersCorporate Governance