China and US regulators have been tightening rules for Chinese companies to list at US stock markets, sending shockwaves through the financial and tech industry. Financial experts Winston Ma and Victor Shih look at the Wall Street Journal at what has happened over the financial cleaning operation in the past few weeks.
The Wall Street Journal:
On one end are China’s regulators, led by the cyberspace authority, which are moving to make it harder for Chinese companies to sell shares overseas. On the other are American lawmakers, such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), who are stepping up calls to block Chinese firms from going public in the U.S. unless they submit to U.S.-style audit requirements.
In China, “the cyber regulator has become the new securities regulator,” says Victor Shih, a University of California, San Diego, professor of political economy who focuses on Chinese policies. “Investors and companies will find it much harder to manage the listing process.”…
One option being considered by the regulators is to require companies using the VIE structure to seek regulatory approval before selling shares in foreign markets, the people said. That could make it a more cumbersome process.
“This would be a significant tightening of Chinese securities regulations,” said Winston Ma, an adjunct law professor at New York University and author of The Digital War, a book about China’s growing technological prowess. “Almost every U.S.-listed Chinese company that foreign investors like pension funds and endowments can buy is listed through a VIE structure.”
More at the Wall Street Journal.
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