In December 2023, a securities business office in Fuyang, China.
Cost Photo | Noor Photo | Getty Images
BEIJING – China’s top securities regulator has vowed to crack down “severely” on market manipulators, while saying protecting small and medium-sized investors is a “core mission.”
Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, told a joint press conference with other senior economic and financial planners in China that issues of fairness, especially in markets dominated by small and medium investors, are our core mission.
Openness, fairness and impartiality must be the most important principles for capital markets, Wu said on the sidelines of China’s annual National People’s Congress meeting with other leaders of the country’s economic and financial sectors.
“Although the Chinese market is large, it is not strong,” he said, emphasizing that investors need better protection.
In the past few weeks, Beijing has stepped up measures to support its struggling stock market. These include tightening regulatory restrictions on its fast-booming quantitative trading industry, curbing short selling, replacing the top securities regulator and having a “national team” buy shares.
In early February, before restrictions were imposed on quantitative traders, market veteran Wu Qing was appointed chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
While Wu was acting deputy mayor of Shanghai, China’s main financial center, and chairman of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, he was known as the “broker butcher” for his crackdown on traders.
The Hong Kong-listed benchmark Hang Seng Index, which includes many offshore Chinese stocks, has lost money for four consecutive years, while the CSI 300 Index, the largest blue-chip stock listed on the mainland, has lost money for three consecutive years.
As the mainland’s real estate market slumps and the stock market tumbles, desperate mainland investors are looking elsewhere for better returns despite tight capital controls.
At last year’s National People’s Congress, as Xi Jinping assumed the presidency for an unprecedented third time, Beijing announced an overhaul of financial and technology regulation, establishing party-led committees to oversee the two industries.
This is a development story. Please check back for more updates.
