BEIJING, May 29 -- Domestic futures exchanges will underwrite a planned fund to help safeguard investors' deposits in case of a brokerage's collapse, a senior regulatory official said Saturday.

    The government is concerned that brokerages could collapse and wipe out individuals' and companies' savings due to heavy volatility from money being poured into commodities markets that have pushed metals and other futures to repeated historic highs.

    The country's three futures exchanges will contribute to the fund, which will be tried out soon in six regions before being rolled out nationwide, said Yang Maijun, director general of futures supervision at the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

    Futures brokerages and the exchanges have jostled over how the proposed fund would be financed.

    The money would ultimately be used to reimburse depositers if a brokerage collapsed or was found to have misused the money.

    Volatility is likely to stay as a weak U.S. dollar forces investors to invest in futures contracts, said Tian Yuan, first chairman of the China Futures Association and chairman of the board of China International Futures Co., one of the country's larger futures brokerages.

    He urged the government to end restrictions on its brokerages operating internationally, saying this would allow brokerages to increase profits and allow them to extend risk management services to domestic firms with overseas businesses.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily)