HONG KONG (Reuters) – China’s securities regulator on Monday denied a media report that said Beijing planned to sort U.S.-listed Chinese companies based on the sensitivity of the data they hold in an attempt to stop U.S. regulators from delisting hundreds of firms.
The three-tier system aims to bring Chinese companies into compliance with U.S. rules that would require public companies to let regulators inspect their audit files, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) “has not studied” a three-tier classification of companies, it said in a statement.
“Enterprises are required to comply with relevant national data information management laws, rules and regulatory requirements of the place of listing, regardless of whether they are listed domestically or overseas,” the regulator said.
Washington has long demanded complete access to the books of U.S.-listed Chinese companies, but Beijing, citing national security concerns, bars foreign inspection of working papers from local accounting firms.
(Reporting by Martin Pollard and Xie Yu; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Stephen Coates)
