krblokhin
Republican financial officers from 21 states are pressuring the Securities and Exchange Commission to crack down on Chinese firms they say exploit U.S. markets while evading basic investor protections, according to a media report dated Tuesday.
In a letter to SEC chair Paul Atkins, the officers requested the regulator to scrutinize China-based firms listed on U.S. exchanges and determine whether they should be delisted, citing Chinese policies that “create an environment of opaqueness that is antithetical” to U.S. reporting standards, the Financial Times reported.
“China’s actions create an environment ripe for fraud and abuse, increasing the likelihood that China-based US-listed companies will violate the disclosure, auditing or anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act,” the officers wrote.
The officers further argued that the SEC has the power to delist companies that violate the Securities Exchange Act, the article said, or depend on auditors in jurisdictions where U.S. oversight is blocked.
The letter comes a few weeks after the chairs of two congressional committees urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to delist several popular Chinese companies, including Alibaba (BABA), Baidu (BIDU), JD.com (JD) and Weibo (WB), that they allege have ties to China’s military.