China will extend its initial public offering (IPOs) reforms to all parts of its stock markets at an appropriate time, state media Xinhua reported on Thursday, quoting the head of the securities regulator.
China has applied a U.S.-style registration-based IPO system on Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR Market to attract listings and help fund the world’s second biggest economy’s so-called technology war against the United States.
China also launched similar IPO reforms in August on Shenzhen’s startup board ChiNext, allowing small companies to access capital quickly on a market which is also aiming to attract tech firms.
For now, the new IPO rules only apply to those two parts of the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock markets, which are China’s two main bourses.
“China will pick the appropriate time to comprehensively push forward registration reforms in a bid to improve the function of capital markets,” Yi Huiman, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), said in a high-level legislative meeting.
Beijing has been pushing through reforms to the country’s capital markets to help an economy that has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
- Reuters. Additional reporting by Meg Shen
