China Securities Regulatory Commission Photo: CFP

China's top stock market regulator, led by its newly appointed chairman, over two days held more than 10 back-to-back meetings with a wide range of market participants to solicit suggestions on regulations, risk prevention and high-quality development, according to media reports on Tuesday.

The meetings with small and medium-sized investors, listed companies, securities fund managers, accounting and law firms, and foreign-funded institutions will further help the new leadership of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) improve communication with all parties and effectively boost investors' confidence, experts noted. 

On Sunday and Monday, the first two working days following the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays, the CSRC convened more than 10 meetings with market participants, experts and scholars, according to the Securities Times on Tuesday. 

Wu Qing, who was appointed as the chairman of the CSRC on February 7, and other leaders of the regulator separately chaired the meetings, with Wu chairing two such meetings, including a meeting with more than 10 individual investors.

The CSRC said that it takes seriously opinions and suggestions, including critical ones, from all sides, implements the ones that are feasible immediately, and gives feedback about the ones that are not feasible at the moment, so as to respond to market concerns in a timely manner and rely on the joint efforts of all parties to better build and develop the capital market. 

The stock market regulator will take various measures to stabilize the market and boost investors' confidence, according to the Securities Times. The measures include improving the quality of listed companies at the source, with more focus on strict control over IPO access and stepped-up supervision, inspection of companies with IPO plans and crackdowns on financial fraud. 

The CSRC is also studying issues of market concern, including punishing financial record falsification and increasing dividend returns, in a bid to enhance investors' confidence and their sense of gain. The regulator will also step up supervision of securities firms and mutual funds. 

Tian Xuan, associate dean and chair professor of finance with the PBC School of Finance at Tsinghua University, who attended a CSRC meeting on Sunday morning chaired by Wu, said that these meetings at the beginning of the year showed the CSRC's sincere attitude in thoroughly listening to and respecting the opinions of all sides. 

"It sends a warm policy signal of jointly building the market and making continuous efforts to stabilize the market and confidence," Tian told the Global Times on Tuesday, noting that at the meetings, participants interacted enthusiastically. 

He made several suggestions, including increasing penalties for securities violations and strengthening the governance of listed companies. 

Strictly cracking down on illegal activities has become a top priority for high-level Chinese stock market regulators, as part of a broad campaign to stabilize the market and ensure high-quality development. 

In an article published on the People's Daily on Tuesday, the Office of the Central Financial Commission and the Central Financial Work Commission, two crucial bodies in China's financial policymaking, jointly emphasized the need to ensure financial stability through stringent and solid regulation and to enhance regulatory capabilities.

It is crucial to strengthen regulation with "teeth and thorns", push for strict enforcement of laws, and to establish a sound regulatory accountability mechanism, enhancing the "regulation of the regulators."

Also in line with the trend of strengthening regulations, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange said on Tuesday that a reporting system has been set up for quantitative trading, in a bid to strengthen supervision of quantitative hedge funds.

Following a series of moves taken by policymakers and regulators, Chinese stocks have rallied in the first two trading days after the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays. On Monday, the Shanghai Composite Index surged by 1.56 percent, while the Shenzhen Component Index rose by 0.93 percent, a bullish start for the Year of the Dragon. On Tuesday, the Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.42 percent higher and the Shenzhen Component Index was up by 0.04 percent.