The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges held meetings about a joint reform in mid-July, and decided to set up their board of directors and board of supervisors by the end of the year, website caijing.com.cn reported on July 30.

The chief supervisors of the exchanges have already been appointed, but the China Securities Regulatory Commission hasn't yet released detailed proposals about the reform or a schedule.

The chief supervisor positions in the two exchanges have been vacant since July 1997, when the State Council appointed the CSRC as their direct regulator.

Insiders believe that the CSRC may make adjustments to the stock exchanges' regulations with the help of the reform to make them adapt to the global capital markets.

Potential shareholders of the exchanges are not only state-owned assets companies, but also sState-owned investment companies such as Central Huijin Investment Ltd.

Zhou Qinnan contributed to the story