On Nov. 2 the PBOC, the Financial Regulatory Administration and the CSRC held
meetings on the securities, fund and insurance company swap facility (SFISF) and
a reloan program for stock repurchases, instructing fuller use of both tools.
Wanlian Securities research head Li Bin said SFISF tenders have restarted and,
if applications succeed, incremental funds will be deployed to the capital
market promptly. The meetings moved the stock-repurchase reloan from a temporary
to a long-term institutional arrangement; the CSRC plans four adjustments to
optimize repurchases deemed necessary to protect company value and shareholder
interests. Regulators signalled a normalization and wider coverage of these
tools and explicit support for market-stabilizing buybacks, which should
underpin listed companies’ repurchase activity, market-value management and
investor returns.
