The equitable treatment of shareholders

There are two types of conflict of interest in corporate governance, one between majority and minority shareholders and the other between management and shareholders. These two types of conflicts of interest are manifested in different ways in different ownership structures. Generally, when ownership is spread among many shareholders, the conflict of interest between management and shareholders is more prominent. When the ownership is relatively more concentrated, the conflict of interest between majority and minority shareholders becomes comparatively more prominent. Although the level of ownership concentration decreased after the 2005 non-tradable share reform of the capital market, when Chinese listed companies are compared with those in the UK and the US, they show fairly concentrated ownership structures. Consequently, dealing with conflicts of interest between majority and minority shareholders is a core corporate governance question in China, in order to ensure that shareholders are treated equitably.