Interview: China to build an investor-centered capital market -- securities watchdog

BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- China will make more efforts to build an investor-centered capital market, a senior official of the country's securities watchdog said in a Wednesday interview amid recent stock market fluctuations.

"It is only when investors are well-protected that there will be a solid foundation for a prosperous market," Wang Jianjun, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), said when asked to comment on recent debate that the current capital market focuses on financing without paying sufficient attention to investors.

Wang pledged to apply an investor-centered philosophy to the commission's work -- from market system planning to supervision and law enforcement -- and to accelerate the improvement of the investor protection system.

Wang noted that the stock market has become an important channel for citizen asset allocation, and said that the sound protection of investor interests is a huge commission responsibility. He said that China's stock market boasts 220 million investors, and that the number of investors participating in the investment fund market is even bigger.

In terms of market system design, the official specified that the CSRC will strive to improve the quality of listed companies by improving quality evaluation standards further, by placing greater emphasis on investment return requirements, and by vigorously encouraging listed companies to bring improved returns for investors through buybacks and increased dividends.

Wang said that professional securities investment funds should play their due role in promoting investment returns. The regulatory body will also guide investment funds to strengthen their professional management capabilities and promote innovation in investment products and services to meet the wealth management needs of investors in an improved manner.

On supervision and law enforcement, Wang said, "To build an investor-centered capital market, we must comprehensively strengthen supervision in accordance with the law, and we should particularly strengthen the supervision of listed companies."

The CSRC will implement last week's directive from the country's top leadership that financial supervision must be "sharp" and "tough," and devise more stringent requirements for capital market supervision and law enforcement to ensure supervision is more impactful, according to Wang.

"We will crack down resolutely on illegal activities that seriously damage the interests of investors, such as fraudulent issuances. And all intermediaries involved in fraud should be held accountable," he said.

With investors well-protected, "the market will definitely get over short-term issues and return to a stable and healthy path," Wang said. "We firmly believe that the future of our economy is bright, and that the future of our stock market is bright."