China's securities regulator to speed up filings for companies listing overseas

China's securities regulator will speed up the filing process for Chinese companies seeking overseas listings, said an official on Wednesday at the two-day 2024 Lujiazui Forum, a major financial gathering in Shanghai.

Last year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued new regulations on overseas listings. As of June 18 this year, the commission has completed the filings for overseas listings for a total of 158 companies, said Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the CSRC.

Among the listings, 85 companies have listed in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), and 73 have listed in the United States.

"Regarding overseas listings, the attitude of the China Securities Regulatory Commission is that we need to accelerate the filing process. Our current speed is faster than before, but overseas listing filings are still a relatively new phenomenon. Our speed is not yet sufficient, and we need to continue accelerating the filing process because there are still many companies in line. This is a positive sign, indicating that China has a large number of highly active enterprises. They all want to enhance their own scale and strength, and this is something we should strongly support," said Fang.

The Lujiazui Forum was created in 2008 as a high-level global platform for government officials, world financial leaders and outstanding scholars to discuss and foster international financial cooperation and further financial reform and market opening in China. Named after Lujiazui -- the financial district in China's finance capital of Shanghai, the forum also symbolizes the city's vision of becoming a leading international financial center.

China leads the world in direct utilization of geothermal energy, with its geothermal heating and cooling area reaching 1.65 billion square meters, according to the China Geological Survey (CGS) on Sunday.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030), the country will focus on three geothermal regions -- north China, northeast China and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, as well as four geothermal belts including the southeastern coastal area, to identify target zones for exploration and development, the CGS said.

Geothermal energy is a stable, low-carbon renewable resource with substantial reserves and high efficiency. China has long maintained the world's leading position in the scale of direct geothermal energy utilization.