A man with a suitcase walks into the building of the China Securities Regulatory Commission in Beijing on November 12, 2025. Photo: VCG

China's top securities regulator on Monday unveiled a coordinated package to stabilize the capital market and strengthen investor confidence, signaling that the market-stabilization mechanism is shifting from an emergency response to long-term institutional framework.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said in a post released late Monday that it will work with the People's Bank of China, the central bank, to fully deploy two structural monetary tools. The third batch of the swap facility for securities, fund and insurance companies has been approved and will be conducted soon, with 31 institutions applying for over 100 billion yuan ($14.89 billion) in quota. The stock buyback and holding-increase relending program will be turned from a phased measure into a long-term institutional arrangement, with the relending rate cut to 1 percent.

Since September 2024, the two tools have operated smoothly: 105 billion yuan of swap operations have been carried out, and buyback-related loan applications have reached about 440 billion yuan. They have helped bring incremental funds into the market and build an internal stabilizer, the CSRC said.

On share repurchases, the regulator said 2024 through October 2026 saw sharply higher buyback activity, with this year's disclosed plans, actual repurchases and cancellation amounts all hitting record highs.

The CSRC will soon revise the buyback rules to make "defensive repurchases" easier, allowing buybacks when shares fall below issue price, and requiring index heavyweights, tech leaders and firms with excess fundraising to set up dedicated repurchase funds.

In product innovation, the first batch of 18 active exchange-traded funds (ETF s) have raised over 35 billion yuan as of November 2. The CSRC will accelerate efforts to refine their positioning, expand equity funds, multi-asset index products and floating-fee funds, and support counter-cyclical fund deployment.

For margin financing, the regulator will optimize collateral ratios and margin requirements under risk control, moderately releasing financing space to improve liquidity.

Analysts say the moves show the market regulator is using market-based, counter-cyclical tools to cushion volatility, attract long-term capital and anchor expectations without fueling reckless leverage.

Global Times