China's securities regulator used a weekend conference to press the country's vast fund sector to play a greater role in financing domestic innovation, while also urging restraint to avoid speculative excess.
Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), addressed fund managers and industry participants, saying they should not place blind wagers on particular sectors or rush to launch funds when share prices are elevated purely to generate short-term profit. The CSRC head framed his remarks as part of a broader call for the fund industry to back national strategic priorities and to bolster resilience against external shocks.
"China's booming emerging and future industries urgently needs capital support," Wu said in a speech published on the regulator's website. He stressed that the fund industry, collectively valued at approximately $13 trillion, ought to sharpen its focus on national strategies while also improving global competitiveness and its capacity to withstand outside pressures.
Wu's comments followed recent regulatory moves. The CSRC on Friday tightened oversight of the private fund industry, which is valued at about $3.4 trillion, and the remarks came weeks after Beijing moved to curb what regulators called "illegal" cross-border investment activity. The sequence of actions signals stepped-up scrutiny of both public and private fund activity.
The CSRC chair linked the regulatory push to a more uncertain global financial backdrop. He noted rising external uncertainties and volatile global financial markets, citing a recent sharp drop in U.S.-listed chipmakers that erased about $1.3 trillion in market value. "External uncertainties are rising, global financial markets are fluctuating at high levels and global assets are undergoing a major rebalancing," Wu said, adding that the wave of technological change led by artificial intelligence calls for a more adaptable financial system.
In practical terms, Wu encouraged private equity firms to adopt a more "strategic and fundamental" stance. He urged them to increase long-term commitments to early-stage, hard-technology start-ups, positioning these investors as key backers of innovation rather than short-term speculators.
At the same time, the regulator recommended that fund managers incorporate new technologies such as artificial intelligence to enhance their operations. But Wu cautioned against excessive concept hype, complex investment structures that obscure risk, and rampant speculation.
He also said regulators will tighten supervision of computer-driven program trading to ensure a fairer playing field and to prevent the unfair use of trading technologies.
Currency reference: $1 = 6.7655 Chinese yuan renminbi.