The development also came amid pressure from Congress to crack down on Chinese companies that avail themselves of U.S. capital markets but do not comply with U.S. rules faced by American rivals. China’s top securities regulator on Saturday reacted to the U.S. securities regulators’ revelation from Thursday cautiously. The U.S. Senate unanimously passed legislation in May that could prevent some Chinese companies from listing their shares on U.S. exchanges unless they follow standards for U.S. audits and regulations. They can also provide a “co-audit,” for example, performed by a U.S. parent company of the China-based affiliate tasked with auditing the Chinese firm. The PCAOB has long complained of China’s failure to grant requests, giving it scant insight on audits of Chinese firms that trade on U.S. exchanges.

Source: The Standard August 09, 2020 04:18 UTC