The "roadmap" for high-quality development of the capital market is becoming clearer

Securities Daily Two Sessions Reporting Team Wu Xiaolu

Trading on stock exchanges reached 64 trillion yuan in market equity and debt financing, with the proportion of direct financing increasing to 31.97%; cash dividends amounted to 10.7 trillion yuan; and the holdings of medium- and long-term funds in A-shares’ circulating market value grew by over 50%… On March 6, at the Fourth Session of the 14th National People’s Congress, during the economic-themed press conference, CSRC Chairman Wu Qing introduced a series of achievements in the capital market during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.

Standing at the start of the “Fifteen” Five-Year Plan, this year’s government work report highlighted key areas for reform and development of the capital market. Wu Qing further elaborated on reform measures at the press conference and clarified development goals for the next five years, making the “roadmap” for high-quality development of the capital market clearer.

Delegates and members interviewed by Securities Daily expressed that, based on measures introduced by the CSRC, reforms are deepening toward mechanisms, normalization, and systematization. Market inclusiveness and adaptability will continue to improve, better aligning with China’s industrial transformation and upgrading trends; meanwhile, reforms are increasingly emphasizing people’s interests, allowing residents to share development dividends, boosting household wealth and consumption. Ultimately, the goal is to build a more efficient, higher-quality capital market that can precisely serve the real economy and steadily increase residents’ property income.

Deepening GEM Reform

Further Enhancing Market Inclusiveness

Focusing on serving new productive forces, the CSRC has recently introduced measures such as the “Eight Measures for Sci-Tech Innovation Board,” “Six Measures for Mergers and Acquisitions,” and the “1+6” reform for the Sci-Tech Innovation Board, enabling a batch of innovative enterprises to efficiently complete IPOs and mergers.

Since June last year, the “1+6” reform for the Sci-Tech Innovation Board has restarted the application of the fifth set of listing standards for unprofitable companies. Meanwhile, the GEM has officially adopted the third set of standards, supporting high-quality unprofitable innovative companies to list. Statistics show that since June 2025, 19 IPO applications from “two boards” have been newly accepted for unprofitable companies.

While advancing reforms of the Sci-Tech Innovation Board, reforms of the GEM continue to deepen. The overall plan has been basically formed, and the CSRC will further improve and release it at an appropriate time. During the press conference, Wu Qing detailed considerations and main arrangements for deepening GEM reforms, including adding a more precise and inclusive set of listing standards, copying and promoting the beneficial experience of pre-IPO review from the Sci-Tech Innovation Board, and comprehensively improving the quality of GEM-listed companies.

National People’s Congress delegate and Peking University Bo Ya Distinguished Professor Tian Xuan told Securities Daily that this reform closely aligns with the development needs of new productive forces, with three highlights: significantly upgraded institutional inclusiveness, where the newly added listing standards will break traditional profit indicators, allowing more growth-stage, unprofitable but core-competitiveness tech startups to accelerate development via capital markets; promoting the proven experience of the Sci-Tech Innovation Board to the GEM to further improve review efficiency and market pricing; and focusing on improving the quality of listed companies by covering the entire process from “entry—review—ongoing supervision,” holding intermediaries accountable, strengthening information disclosure quality, and fostering a healthy market ecology.

“This reform is not about relaxing listing conditions but adjusting standards for the growth paths of tech, digital, and other new types of enterprises, setting issuance conditions from three aspects: technological development, industrial pathways, and investment feasibility. It weakens traditional financial indicators while emphasizing long-term technological and organizational innovation capabilities,” said Yang Chengzhang, Chief Economist at Shenwan Hongyuan Securities and a member of the CPPCC, in an interview.

More Precise Refinancing

Supporting Core Technology Breakthroughs

Refinancing is an important system to support listed companies in optimizing and strengthening, fostering innovative capital formation, and cultivating innovation momentum.

Wu Qing introduced that the CSRC will further optimize and improve the refinancing mechanism from three aspects: enhancing inclusiveness and adaptability of rules, launching shelf issuance, improving lock-in price increase mechanisms, and streamlining procedures; emphasizing support for high-quality tech innovation enterprises; and strengthening refinancing supervision.

“This time, the optimization of the refinancing mechanism is unprecedented,” Tian Xuan said. Shelf issuance will significantly shorten approval cycles and improve financing efficiency, allowing tech companies to better seize market opportunities and quickly raise needed funds; streamlining procedures will further lower financing thresholds and costs for quality enterprises, helping improve resource allocation efficiency; emphasizing support for key sectors reflects targeted policy support, strengthening the precision and effectiveness of the capital market in serving national strategies. It avoids indiscriminate support and resource misallocation, effectively directing financial resources toward cutting-edge technological innovation and key industrial upgrading, accelerating core technology breakthroughs and industrialization.

National People’s Congress delegate and Lixin Accounting Firm Chairman Zhu Jiandi told Securities Daily that this optimization shifts from “inclusive” financing convenience to “precise” resource allocation, channeling valuable capital toward the most needed high-quality tech enterprises. Introducing shelf issuance, improving flexibility, and streamlining procedures are the most structural adjustments, facilitating support for high-quality small and medium-sized tech startups, emphasizing “support for excellence and science,” and adding and subtracting in guiding principles.

Prevent Risks and Strengthen Regulation

Laying a Foundation for High-Quality Development

High-quality development must be based on risk prevention and strengthened regulation. Wu Qing announced that the CSRC will promote risk prevention and stronger regulation through five key efforts to safeguard high-quality market development.

“Risk prevention and strong regulation are vital guarantees for high-quality development of the capital market, requiring optimization of regulatory focus, methods, and approaches based on market changes,” Yang Chengzhang said. The five efforts outlined by the CSRC directly address current market pain points. He believes that, after improving inclusiveness and adaptability for tech companies, the market also needs strengthened regulation of micro-profit or unprofitable listed companies, including their fund flows, investment directions, and development paths. Additionally, enhancing the market’s self-balancing ability is necessary. Moreover, regulating trading behaviors based on asset characteristics, avoiding excessive trading, and establishing reasonable hedging mechanisms will help achieve moderate trading, price formation, and risk balance.

Tian Xuan said these regulatory measures focus on the core demands of high-quality market development. Strengthening the comprehensive deterrent and punishment system for financial fraud means continuously enhancing regulatory capabilities from identification and verification to accountability, which is key to maintaining market integrity; deepening and refining high-frequency quantitative trading regulation does not negate its positive role but aims to guide its healthy development through proper oversight, stimulating activity while ensuring market stability; strictly investigating behaviors such as hot-spot chasing, concept speculation, and manipulation through transparent supervision and real-time monitoring, creating a fair and just trading environment, and boosting investor confidence.

From “Strong Regulation” to “Strong Market”

Clear Development Goals for the Next Five Years

Wu Qing also outlined a “roadmap” for high-quality development of the capital market over the next five years: a more resilient and stable market, more inclusive and adaptable systems, higher-quality and better-structured listed companies, more effective regulation and investor protection, and deeper, higher-level opening-up.

Tian Xuan believes that these “five improvements” are interconnected and form a logical, dynamic cycle: mature systems are the foundation; coordinated frameworks are the path; company quality is the core; rule of law in regulation is the guarantee; and international influence extends outward. Together, they create a comprehensive, high-quality development loop that supports the acceleration of new productive forces and the strategic goal of national technological independence and strength.

Zhu Jiandi sees these five aspects as a strategic deepening from “strong regulation” to “strong market.” At the market level, the focus on resilience and stability aims to strengthen internal stability, addressing market volatility and the high proportion of short-term funds, stabilizing expectations from both capital and mechanisms, and enhancing risk resistance. Institutionally, the core is reforming through the Sci-Tech Innovation Board and GEM, deepening comprehensive reform of investment and financing to support new productive forces. For listed companies, the focus is shifting from authenticity to investability, consolidating market fundamentals, improving investment value and shareholder returns, and guiding resources toward high-quality enterprises. In regulation and investor protection, the approach will shift toward building a “good law and good governance” market environment. When systems are sufficiently improved, markets can naturally smooth out excessive fluctuations and resist external shocks. Regarding opening-up, efforts will continue to enhance China’s international competitiveness and resource allocation capacity in capital markets.

“In summary, these five aspects are interconnected and send a clear signal: future capital markets will focus more on quality. A healthy and vibrant capital market is worth looking forward to,” Zhu Jiandi said.