The 2026 Global Investors Conference of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) opened today in Shenzhen. CSRC Vice Chairman Liu Haoling delivered a keynote speech, marking his first major public address since assuming the role in April this year. His comprehensive remarks outlined the fundamental strengths of China's economy and capital markets, conveying clear and stable policy signals to global investors.
Regarding regulatory stance, the signals from Liu Haoling were unequivocal. He stated that stabilizing factors in the Chinese economy are continuously accumulating, further highlighting the investment value of the capital markets. He warmly welcomed international institutions and investors to seize the opportunities of the times to invest and deepen their engagement in China. This suggests that substantive actions from the regulatory side can be anticipated.
His speech aligned with the SZSE Global Investors Conference's role as a benchmark event for China's capital markets in facilitating both inbound and outbound investment. The annual conference remains a major gathering, and the 2026 edition continues to bring together regulators, institutional investors, listed company representatives, and experts from around the world.
As a debut speech on a global stage, what new information did Liu Haoling provide? Analysis reveals four key incremental points.
Firstly, foreign capital has significantly increased its participation in China's capital markets. On one hand, foreign funds have steadily flowed into the Chinese stock market through various channels. To date, various types of overseas investors hold over 4 trillion yuan in A-share circulating market capitalization, making them important participants. On the other hand, 27 renowned international financial institutions have now established controlling or wholly-owned securities, futures, and fund management entities in China.
Secondly, the fundamentals of China's capital markets continue to improve positively. China's macroeconomy is progressing steadily with enhanced quality and innovation, achieving a strong start to the 15th Five-Year Plan period. The total A-share market capitalization is approximately 120 trillion yuan, with over 200 leading companies valued above 100 billion yuan. The performance of listed companies continues to improve, with total dividends for 2025 reaching about 2.55 trillion yuan, setting a new historical record. Thanks to various measures, significant progress has been made in stabilizing the market, boosting confidence, and anchoring expectations.
Thirdly, regulatory authorities are advancing reforms on multiple fronts to tangibly enhance the investment value of the capital markets. Examples include using financing-side reforms as a driver to accelerate the cultivation and development of a high-quality listed company cohort; speeding up the creation of a market environment where medium-to-long-term capital is "willing to come, able to stay, and can develop well"; and coordinating with various parties to implement a "policy mix" for market stability, focusing on building risk breakwaters and seawalls for the capital markets, optimizing market stabilization mechanisms and tools, and strengthening cross-market, cross-sector, and cross-border risk monitoring.
Looking ahead, more substantive regulatory measures to promote market development are expected. The CSRC will continue to deepen comprehensive reforms for investment and financing in the capital markets, systematically plan and introduce more impactful reform and opening-up measures, and use the "constant" of coordinated development and win-win cooperation to address the "variables" in the international environment.
**Key Point One: Consistently Conveying Clear and Stable Signals to the Market** If these "incremental pieces" are assembled into a complete picture, the underlying logic of Liu Haoling's entire speech addresses the core "three fundamental questions" from foreign investors: First, where is the "anchor" of confidence for China's capital markets amidst uncertainties? Second, how should the investment return rate of A-shares as core assets be viewed? Third, how will the treatment of foreign capital under the internationalization process be implemented?
Liu Haoling first shared the foundational strengths of China's capital markets, summarizing the current fundamentals: the acceleration of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, coupled with ample economic resilience and momentum towards innovation in China. He clearly stated that facing the current complex and changing domestic and international landscape, strong leadership and scientific planning ensure that stabilizing factors in the Chinese economy are continuously accumulating, with market confidence and expectations becoming increasingly solid.
How should this be understood? The stable foundation of China's capital markets is rooted in the robust resilience of the Chinese economy and scientific planning. This can be grasped from three dimensions: First, the scientific proposal of the 15th Five-Year Plan provides a strategic layout for China's stable economic development. The plan emphasizes accelerating high-level technological self-reliance, leading the development of new quality productive forces, persisting in expanding domestic demand, vigorously boosting consumption, and expanding effective investment, consistently sending clear and stable signals to the market and significantly boosting foreign investor confidence.
Second, head-of-state diplomacy guides the management of major-country relations, providing more certainty and stability for economic and trade cooperation. This year, China has achieved fruitful results in multilateral and bilateral diplomacy. Notably, during the recent visit of the U.S. President to China, the two leaders agreed to establish a "U.S.-China constructive strategic stable relationship" as a new positioning, providing strategic guidance for bilateral relations, which has been widely welcomed by both peoples and the international community.
Third, China's macroeconomy is progressing steadily with enhanced quality and innovation, achieving a strong start to the 15th Five-Year Plan period. In the first quarter of this year, GDP grew by 5% year-on-year, domestic market demand continued to improve, and new quality productive forces are being continuously cultivated and expanded, fully demonstrating the capacity to adapt and overcome challenges and resilience under pressure, injecting more certainty and creating new opportunities for the world economy.
**Key Point Two: Coordinating a Policy "Mix" with Various Parties** Liu Haoling pointed out that China's capital market reforms for investment and financing are progressing steadily and yielding continuous results. Overall market valuation is within a reasonable range, foreign capital's willingness to allocate to high-quality Chinese assets is increasing, and investment value is further highlighted.
Financing-side reforms continue to drive the quality improvement of listed companies. Policies such as the Sci-Tech Innovation Board's "1+6" reform measures, the "M&A Six Articles," and deepened reforms for the ChiNext board have been implemented successively. The capital market's ability to serve new quality productive forces and support corporate financing and development is steadily strengthening, with the structure of listed companies continuously optimizing. To date, the total number of listed companies on the Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing Stock Exchanges exceeds 5,500, with a total A-share market capitalization of about 120 trillion yuan, including over 200 leading companies valued above 100 billion yuan.
While the performance of listed companies continues to improve, the investor return mechanism is also being refined. Total cash dividends from listed companies in 2025 reached approximately 2.55 trillion yuan, setting another historical record.
On the capital side, regulatory authorities are accelerating the creation of a market environment where medium-to-long-term capital is "willing to come, able to stay, and can develop well." Under the coordination of the Central Financial Commission, a series of institutional developments conducive to "long-term capital, long-term investment" are being solidly advanced. The scale and proportion of equity investments by various medium-to-long-term funds such as annuities, insurance, social security, and public funds have steadily increased, significantly improving the investor structure of the market and becoming an important pillar for maintaining stable market operation.
While the strategic "anchor" stabilizes market expectations, translating macro-level benefits into tangible returns for investors requires meticulous efforts by regulators in refining the institutional ecosystem. This leads to the second major focus of Liu Haoling's speech: implementing a policy mix. He mentioned that regulatory authorities are focusing on building risk breakwaters and seawalls for the capital markets, actively cooperating with the central bank and relevant agencies to optimize market stabilization mechanisms and tools, strengthening cross-market, cross-sector, and cross-border risk monitoring, pooling efforts, and coordinating actions, with continuous important achievements in stabilizing the market, confidence, and expectations.
**Key Point Three: Sustained and Steady Inflow of Overseas Capital** It is precisely due to these inward-focused changes on the domestic financing and capital fronts that China's capital markets are resonating within foreign investment circles. Liu Haoling noted that the high-level, institutional opening-up of the capital markets is progressing steadily, with a series of opening-up measures taking effect, significantly boosting the confidence of long-term allocators and leading to sustained and steady inflows of overseas capital.
This year, foreign capital has steadily flowed into the Chinese stock market through various channels. To date, various types of overseas investors hold over 4 trillion yuan in A-share circulating market capitalization, making them important participants.
Regarding institutional opening, since the removal of foreign equity ratio restrictions in the securities, futures, and fund management industries in 2020, 27 renowned international financial institutions have now established controlling or wholly-owned securities, futures, and fund management entities in China. Concurrently, some high-quality Chinese institutions are "going global," establishing operational entities overseas.
In terms of market and product opening, the Qualified Foreign Investor (QFI) system optimization plan was formulated and implemented in 2025, further optimizing access management and facilitating investment operations. The Shanghai-Hong Kong and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect mechanisms have been continuously optimized, and the cross-listing mechanism for ETFs has been steadily expanded. By the end of 2025, the market capitalization coverage of Shanghai/Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Hong Kong Stock Connect targets exceeded 90% and 85% respectively, with smooth and active two-way trading, continuously enhancing the convenience of cross-border investment for domestic and international investors.
Regarding overseas listings, overseas financing channels remain unobstructed. Since the implementation of the "Interim Measures for the Administration of Overseas Securities Issuance and Listing by Domestic Enterprises" in 2023, the filing management for overseas listings has been generally stable and orderly. As of April 2026, the CSRC has processed 418 filing applications from domestic enterprises for initial overseas issuance and listing, supporting companies in utilizing both domestic and international markets and resources.
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