The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges tightened regulatory oversight this year, issuing 135 fines for violations related to initial public offerings and refinancing projects, an almost three-fold increase from 50 last year.
The number of disciplinary actions surged 3.8 times to 53, while regulatory measures concerning issues such as inadequate information disclosure by issuers and irregular practices by intermediaries rose 110% to 82, according to their websites.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange has issued disciplinary actions 29 times and took regulatory measures 33 times, while the number for the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has reached 24 and 49, respectively.
Following the full implementation of the registration-based IPO system, stricter requirements have been imposed on both issuers and intermediaries. When IPO or refinancing applicants are penalized, their sponsors, representatives, accountants, law firms, and attorneys are often punished as well.
Brokerage giant China Securities received five fines this year, the most among all punished sponsors, followed by Haitong Securities with four and Minsheng Securities with three.