China's securities industry to focus on high quality development in next five years

China's securities industry will focus on high-quality development and deepen market reforms in the country's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) period, Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) Wu Qing said at a general meeting of the Securities Association of China on Saturday.

While addressing the meeting, Wu described China's A-share market as "broadly active", with total market capitalization above 100 trillion yuan (14.14 trillion in U.S. dollars).

The combined assets of China's securities firms have reached 14.5 trillion yuan and the net assets 3.3 trillion yuan, up more than 60 percent and 40 percent, respectively, over the past four years, helping nearly 1,200 technology innovators go public, according to the CSRC chairman.

Wu also noted that foreign institutions are expanding their onshore footprint, with 11 wholly foreign-owned or foreign-controlled securities companies now operating in China.

Wu said that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the industry will shoulder four major tasks: better serving the real economy and new-quality productive forces, facilitating the optimal allocation of residents' assets, supporting the building of a strong financial sector, and advancing high-level opening-up to the outside world.

Wu added that securities firms must swiftly shift from price competition to value competition. Leading firms must boost their resource-integration capabilities and strive to become globally influential benchmarks during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. He also pledged to enhance differentiated, category-based oversight.

"For small and medium-sized securities firms as well as foreign-invested securities companies, we will explore the implementation of differentiated regulation in areas such as classification evaluation and business access, so as to promote their distinctive and specialized development. For a handful of problematic securities firms, strict regulation shall be imposed in accordance with the law," he said.

China's securities industry to focus on high quality development in next five years

A group of demonstrators gathered in Bulgaria's capital Sofia on Monday to protest against U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.

The protesters rallied with signs reading "Do not engage war in Iran" and "We do not welcome U.S. military aircraft", to show solidarity with Iran.

"No one has the right to launch an attack on a sovereign country or interfere in its decisions," said Kostadin Kostadinov, chairman of the Bulgarian Revival party, while delivering a speech at the rally.

"The U.S. military equipment should not be brought to Bulgarian territory and the territory cannot be used in any form for military operation against Iran. We demand the U.S. military planes to immediately leave Bulgarian territory. This is not our war. The Iranian people are not our enemy. Iran is not our enemy," Petar Nikolaev Petrov, deputy chairman of the Bulgarian Revival party, said in his speech.

Several U.S. military planes have been deployed at Sofia Airport in recent days, though the Bulgarian government denied that they were linked to U.S. military operations.

The U.S. and Israel on Saturday launched strikes against Iran, plunging the war-torn Middle East into a new round of violence. Iran has retaliated with a series of counterattacks against Israel and U.S. targets across the region.

Protesters rally in Bulgaria against US-Israeli strikes on Iran