China's top securities regulator will initiate a new round of special actions to strengthen the governance of listed companies, marking a new step in advancing comprehensive reforms in capital market investment and financing, said a meeting chaired by Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

At the meeting to deliver the messages from the Central Economic Work Conference, the CSRC decided that the upcoming campaign will foster high-quality listed firms and guide strong performers to increase dividend payouts and share buybacks.

The previous governance campaign, launched in December 2020, was a two-year effort involving company self-inspection, on-site reviews and rectification to raise governance standards across listed companies.

The CSRC meeting also pledged to fully implement long-cycle performance assessments for institutional investors, improve long-term market stabilization mechanisms, deepen ChiNext reforms, expedite the launch of pilots for commercial real estate investment trusts and study new futures products.

The commission will also accelerate efforts to foster world-class investment banks and institutions, enhance the efficiency of the overseas-listing filing mechanism and introduce a new regulation on listed company supervision.