Shenzhen bourse nudges China firms to speed up IPO applications
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China’s stock exchanges in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing accepted 150 new applications for initial public offering in June, the highest monthly tally in 2025.
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BEIJING – China’s Shenzhen Stock Exchange has urged brokers to speed up applications for companies to list on the ChiNext board as officials seek to boost private enterprise and reignite the economy under threat from rising US tariffs.
The exchange, China’s second largest after Shanghai, called in a dozen investment banks to a meeting in June to get them to quicken the pace of applications for companies seeking to sell shares on the tech board, according to people familiar with the matter.
At the meeting, the bourse indicated it would expedite the approval process and loosen some requirements, the people said. The regulator aims to ensure that all enterprises that have submitted applications can receive a review and feedback in 2025, the people said.
After a years-long clampdown on share sales and tighter scrutiny of private enterprises, Beijing has shifted its stance as economic challenges, including a trade war, have mounted. Earlier in 2025, Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over a meeting with key entrepreneurs including Alibaba Group Holding co-founder Jack Ma, underscoring a softer stance.
At a forum in June, China Securities Regulatory Commission chairman Wu Qing said that China will accelerate the development of a capital market better suited to supporting technological innovation and more actively cultivate long-term capital for the market. Regulators are also seeking to stoke share sales on the mainland, as listings from Chinese firms have surged in Hong Kong.
The Shenzhen exchange late in June also published rules to make it easier for technology firms already listed on the ChiNext board to raise funds to improve their ability to innovate.
China’s stock exchanges in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing accepted 150 new applications for initial public offering in June, the highest monthly tally in 2025. The majority was accepted by Beijing, according to exchange data. Listings in Hong Kong hit the highest since December 2022 in June, as a rally in the Asian financial hub’s stocks drove a rush for share sales.
Listings in China plunged for three straight years, reaching 222 billion yuan (S$39.5 billion) in 2024, down from 1.24 trillion yuan in 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. So far in 2025, China has seen 114 billion yuan in listings. BLOOMBERG
