Mainland China’s new securities chief details tasks facing senior regulatory officials
Analyst says CSRC has limited political capital to challenge entrenched interests
Mainland China’s new chief securities regulator, Liu Shiyu, gave his first speech to his new subordinates on Tuesday, but analysts say they are concerned about their capabilities and suggest the authorities “stay away” from the markets.
Liu, formerly chairman of Agricultural Bank of China, became the eighth chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on Saturday, 26 years after the birth of the mainland stock market, replacing Xiao Gang.
In his speech to senior CSRC officials on Tuesday, Liu said its main tasks included strictly supervising the market and checking for market manipulation, as well as actively guiding funds into the stock market, Bloomberg reported.
However, analysts said Liu was facing the toughest job in the world in trying to fix mainland China’s stock markets, a roller-coaster-style playground crammed with unprofessional retail investors and many vested interests.
You cannot act as the referee and a player at the same time
“Liu’s first internal statement seems in line with the CSRC tradition – fighting back against market wrongdoing, propping up share prices by introducing more liquidity in the markets,” a Guangzhou-based brokerage analyst said. “The pledges have been made for decades and see what is going on in the markets; you will understand how hard they are to realise.
“The CSRC, relying on it itself, has limited political capital to challenge entrenched interests.”