CSRC Vice Chairman Li Chao: Accelerating a New Round of Capital Market Reform and Opening-Up
nashnova research
CSRC Vice Chairman Li Chao unveiled plans to accelerate capital-market reform and laid out four cooperation priorities with Hong Kong — adding RMB trading counters and REITs to Stock Connect is the key milestone to watch.
What is driving this round of reform?
Li anchored the agenda on the new "Nine National Articles" and the "1+N" policy framework, with integrated investment-and-financing reform as the lead lever.
This means → regulators are treating fundraising and investor returns as a single equation, not just making it easier for companies to list.
In plain terms = the signal has shifted from "help companies raise money" to "investor returns and financing convenience must advance together."
What has the regulator actually delivered this year?
In the first three quarters, A-share companies carried out nearly 2,000 M&A transactions worth close to RMB 1.5 trillion. Revenue and profit both grew, and dividends plus buybacks far exceeded IPO and refinancing amounts.
This means → the shift from a "financing market" to a "returns market" now has hard numbers behind it.
On enforcement, the CSRC ran its third consecutive year of crackdowns on financial fraud, cleaned up illegal cross-border brokerage operations, and improved the advance-compensation system for investors.
On inclusivity, it extended the fifth listing standard on the STAR Market to AI companies, deepened ChiNext reform, and streamlined refinancing rules.
How far has opening-up progressed?
The CSRC completed overseas-listing filings for over 130 companies in the first three quarters. Five-year RMB treasury futures launched in Hong Kong, and qualified foreign institutional investors were allowed into China's treasury-futures market.
The CSRC recently approved the establishment of Citi Securities China; the number of wholly foreign-owned brokerages rose to seven.
This means → opening is not rhetorical — overseas-listing pipelines are processing volume, foreign brokerage licences are landing one by one, and the pace of two-way opening is accelerating.
What are the four mainland–Hong Kong cooperation priorities?
Priority one: fast-track RMB stock-trading counters and REITs into Stock Connect, refine qualified-foreign-investor rules, and support internationally expanding Chinese firms listing in Hong Kong.
Priority two: develop more indices and ETF products linked to Chinese assets, coordinate cross-asset opening of equity, bond, and derivatives markets, and help Chinese institutions use Hong Kong as a global gateway.
Priority three: deepen cross-border regulatory cooperation, strengthen monitoring of cross-border capital flows, crack down on illegal cross-border operations, and advance information-sharing in emerging areas such as real-world asset tokenisation (RWA).
Priority four: work closely with Hong Kong regulators to participate in global capital-market rulemaking and frontier research.
What is the timeline test?
Li's remarks build on the "five synergies" cooperation model proposed by CSRC Chairman Wu Qing in Hong Kong in August — this is the first time concrete paths have been laid out at an international summit.
Whether RMB trading counters and REITs enter Stock Connect on schedule is seen as the key checkpoint for policy delivery.
This means → the market's next question is not "will it happen" but "when, and how much" — the timetable itself is the signal.
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