According to recent statements from a senior exchange official, the Shanghai Stock Exchange is intensifying efforts to improve the quality of listed companies and enhance the investability of the capital market. The remarks were delivered during a prominent financial forum held in Shanghai, highlighting the exchange's commitment to creating a more attractive environment for long-term investors.
At the Global Wealth Management Forum·2026 Shanghai Suhewan Conference, Yuan Duoran, Vice General Manager of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, outlined the progress made in establishing a market ecosystem conducive to long-term investment. He noted that the financial market has achieved significant developmental milestones. As of September this year, the exchange listed 1,124 funds with a total market value of 3.5 trillion yuan and a turnover of 65.4 trillion yuan from January to September. Notably, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) ranked first in Asia by turnover and third by market value, solidifying their role as a crucial foundational allocation for medium and long-term capital.
Diversifying ETF Offerings to Suit Long-Term Needs
The exchange is continuously refining its ETF layout and actively promoting the introduction of active ETFs to provide the market with products that combine high transparency, low cost, and strategic flexibility. According to Yuan Duoran, there is a growing abundance of ETF products—including broad-based, dividend, free cash flow, and bond ETFs—that align with the allocation needs of medium and long-term funds. The institutional framework for long-term investment is also being further optimized. This includes adjustments to the closing trading method for funds and the inclusion of main-board stocks and ETFs in after-hours fixed-price trading, which aims to facilitate easier market entry for medium and long-term capital and improve the index-based investment ecosystem. He added that 180 indices have been published or revised this year to provide robust support for the entry of long-term funds.
Deepening Global Connectivity and Opening Up
Turning to internationalization, Yuan Duoran emphasized the exchange's ongoing efforts to deepen interconnection mechanisms, enrich cross-border investment products, and steadfastly advance the opening-up of the capital market. Under the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, the mechanism has been continuously optimized by removing the aggregate quota limit, expanding the daily quota, including stock ETFs in the eligible scope, and improving the information disclosure system. Currently, Shanghai Stock Connect covers 90% of the market value of stocks on the Shanghai exchange. The average daily turnover of Shanghai Stock Connect has surged from 4.7 billion yuan in the first month of its launch in 2014 to 101 billion yuan last year.
Furthermore, the ETF Connect is being advanced in depth to actively promote cross-border index investment, realizing ETF cross-listing between China and Japan, Shanghai and Hong Kong, China and Singapore, and China and Brazil. The scale of cross-border index products on the Shanghai exchange exceeds 470 billion yuan, further promoting the integration and connection between the Chinese and global capital markets. The exchange also continues to enhance its capacity to serve international investors. Yuan Duoran noted that an annual international investor conference is held to communicate and cooperate with over a thousand international institutions, attracting more overseas medium and long-term capital into the market while continuously improving the risk prevention and control system and strengthening regulatory construction under open conditions. Currently, the circulating market value of A-shares held by various foreign investors exceeds 4 trillion yuan, making them significant participants in the Chinese capital market.
Comments