The first China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) meeting of 2026 has drawn significant attention, with its focus squarely on combating financial fraud in the capital markets. On January 5, the CSRC led an inter-ministerial work promotion symposium to advance the comprehensive punishment and prevention system for capital market financial fraud, attended by principals from 11 departments including the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security. The meeting unequivocally stated that a "combination punch" of measures would be used to deepen comprehensive fraud prevention and punishment, targeting both the fraudsters themselves and the third parties that facilitate the fraud. The image shows the scene of the symposium as displayed on the CSRC's official website.

The meeting concluded that the construction of a comprehensive punishment and prevention system for capital market financial fraud has entered a critical stage of deepening implementation, necessitating a problem-oriented and systematic approach to deliver a powerful "combination punch" of comprehensive measures. Based on a summary of the meeting's content, at least five key points of focus emerge.

First, the unprecedented breadth of the participating departments highlights the seriousness of the effort, marking a new focal point. Chaired by CSRC Party Secretary and Chairman Wu Qing, the meeting saw the full attendance and active participation of principals from 11 core departments, including the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Finance. This assembly, covering critical areas such as administrative supervision, judicial adjudication, fiscal and tax oversight, and state-owned asset management, is exceptionally rare compared to past gatherings, laying a mechanistic foundation for future cross-departmental data sharing,线索 transfer, and joint investigations.

Second, regarding the next steps, the meeting clarified three major priority directions, which constitute the content of greatest market interest. These are: 1) Perfecting institutional safeguards by promoting the introduction of relevant laws and regulations to solidify the legal foundation for punishment and prevention work; 2) Strengthening coordination mechanisms by deepening the linkage between administrative and criminal proceedings for major cases, improving civil liability support mechanisms, and achieving integrated打击 against both financial fraud and third-party facilitation; 3) Reinforcing the internal constraints of corporate governance by organizing a new round of corporate governance special actions to build常态化 and long-term prevention mechanisms.

Third, the three-dimensional accountability system continues to be refined. Since 2024, the CSRC has transferred 112线索 involving suspected financial fraud crimes to public security organs and supported受损 investors in cases involving companies like Jintongling, Meishang Ecology, and Jinzhou Port in initiating special representative lawsuits. Regarding delisting supervision, 18 companies involved in severe fraud have triggered mandatory delisting for major violations, while 91 already-delisted companies have been placed under investigation, resolutely eliminating any regulatory vacuum that might allow wrongdoers to simply "delist and escape."

Fourth, the phased results reported at the meeting, particularly the data, reflect progress in协同治理. Since the issuance of the "Opinions on Further Improving the Comprehensive Punishment and Prevention of Financial Fraud in the Capital Markets" in July 2024, the CSRC has investigated and handled 159 financial fraud cases, imposed 111 administrative penalties, with total fines and confiscations amounting to 8.1 billion yuan. In terms of accountability, major shareholders and actual controllers in 43 cases have been held strictly accountable, while third parties facilitating fraud have been severely punished as administrative accomplices. The meeting noted that, through the joint efforts of all parties, the comprehensive punishment and prevention system for listed company financial fraud is gradually being implemented, regulatory synergy is continuously strengthening, and the market ecology has noticeably improved.

Fifth, the meeting specifically emphasized the long-term nature and complexity of the profit-driven motives behind financial fraud. It clearly stated that all departments must jointly shoulder political responsibility, adopt more substantial measures to enhance the efficiency of comprehensive punishment and prevention, and promote the improvement of listed company quality and investment value. The intensified crackdown in 2025, exemplified by six major cases, underscores why打击 financial fraud is crucial, thereby answering the question of the importance of building this comprehensive system. Industry insiders indicate that the implementation of a multi-departmental协同治理 mechanism will effectively address the pain points of financial fraud being "difficult to discover, difficult to investigate, and difficult to hold accountable," further purifying the market environment.

For market participants, the持续增强 of regulatory synergy will compel listed companies to standardize their governance and intermediaries to exercise due diligence,遏制 the impulse for fraud at its source, ultimately benefiting the broad base of investors and solidifying the capital market's foundation for serving the real economy. From the description of this meeting, it is evident that regulators maintain a steadfast "zero tolerance" attitude. According to a summary, since the beginning of 2025, the CSRC's efforts to investigate and punish financial fraud have持续升级. Judging from the six disclosed typical cases, a full-chain, no-blind-spot accountability for fraudulent acts is being achieved through multiple means such as hefty fines, market bans, forced delistings, and criminal referrals.

In terms of penalty severity, among the cases disclosed in 2025, the highest proposed fine for a single company reached 229 million yuan, with the highest combined fine for responsible individuals totaling 44 million yuan. For instance, *ST Dongtong, for fabricating revenue and profits over four consecutive years, faced a proposed fine of 229 million yuan, with seven responsible individuals collectively fined 44 million yuan, and its actual controller subjected to a 10-year securities market ban; *ST Yuancheng faced a proposed fine of 37.4546 million yuan, with five responsible individuals collectively fined 42 million yuan, and its actual controller also handed a 10-year market ban.

The scope of full-chain accountability has further expanded, covering not only listed companies and the "key few" but also extending to intermediaries and third parties facilitating fraud. In the Lifang Shuke case, where the company inflated revenue by 638 million yuan over three years through agency businesses and financing trades, the Anhui regulatory bureau, in addition to fining the company 10 million yuan and its 10 responsible individuals a combined 30 million yuan, also formally initiated an investigation into the involved accounting firm,压实 the "gatekeeper" responsibility of intermediaries. In the *ST Gaohong case, besides imposing a 1.6 billion yuan fine on relevant responsible entities, regulators also fined a third party facilitating the fraud 7 million yuan, setting a precedent for同步追责 against accomplices.

The case of Yuebo Power disclosed in June pushed third-party accountability to a new stage. The collusion and串通 between third-party entities and listed companies to commit fraud, forming利益链 and even ecosystems, is a new characteristic of capital market financial fraud in recent years, which not only disrupts market order but severely pollutes the market ecology, warranting severe打击. In this case, individuals Yu and He, who provided or controlled multiple companies to assist Yuebo Power in conducting fake businesses, were deemed jointly liable and proposed fines of 2 million yuan and 300,000 yuan respectively. The CSRC explicitly stated that后续 it will comprehensively utilize various methods, including direct立案处罚, transfer to competent authorities for handling, and criminal referral, to fully pursue the responsibility of parties facilitating fraud, aiming to break the fraud利益链 and "ecosystem." This also marks the first time the CSRC has严肃查处 financial fraud cases while simultaneously pursuing accountability against facilitating parties. The image illustrates this first instance of同步追责 against accomplices.

Forced delisting has become a crucial惩戒手段. Since 2025, six companies, including *ST Changyao, *ST Dongtong, Lifang Shuke, *ST Yuancheng, *ST Puli, and *ST Gaohong, have all had procedures initiated for涉嫌重大违法强制退市. Among them, *ST Puli, for inflating total profits by over 500 million yuan for two consecutive years (2021-2022), with the inflated amount exceeding 50% of the reported figure, was directly subjected to termination of listing procedures by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, reflecting the regulatory bottom line that "major violations必退市."

Criminal referral has become a vital环节 in the accountability chain. All disclosed cases明确 that线索 involving suspected crimes will be strictly transferred to public security organs in accordance with the "Criminal Law" and relevant regulations. This衔接机制 ensures a seamless connection between administrative and criminal punishment, forming a powerful regulatory synergy. Statistics show that in the six cases disclosed since 2025, fines are proposed against 47 responsible individuals, with one person facing a lifetime market ban and three individuals facing 10-year market bans; the叠加效应 of administrative penalties and criminal accountability continues to凸显.

In terms of fraudulent methods, the activities of涉案 companies in 2025 exhibited characteristics of隐蔽性 and systematization. Lifang Shuke fabricated revenue and costs through fake trades and financing activities; *ST Gaohong engaged in "空转" and "走单" businesses lacking commercial substance; Yuebo Power inflated profits by fabricating sales businesses and虚假出售 assets. These sophisticated, full-set manipulations of accounts are also forcing regulatory authorities to continuously enhance their线索识别 capabilities.

The implementation of the multi-departmental协同治理 mechanism becomes clearer when the timeline is dialed back. It is noted that the joint press conference held by the CSRC and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on February 21, 2025, and the inter-ministerial work promotion symposium on January 5, nearly a year apart, form a policy echo, gradually revealing the core trend of协同发力 in governing capital market crimes. How can this be understood?

First, the February joint press conference, using the release of guiding cases as an opportunity, clarified the direction for synergy between law enforcement and judiciary. The guiding cases released by the Supreme People's Procuratorate (the 55th batch) covered key areas like financial fraud and fraudulent issuance, emphasizing全链条追责 against actual controllers, executives of listed companies, intermediary personnel, etc. The first batch of four administrative guiding cases released by the CSRC also focused on financial fraud and market manipulation, setting an "过罚相当" enforcement benchmark through penalty examples involving hefty fines of 86 million yuan and major violation delistings. Data indicates that the协同效能 between securities law enforcement and judicial punishment has been持续提升 in recent years.

From 2022 to 2024, national procuratorial organs prosecuted 366证券犯罪 cases involving 1,011 individuals, with an average annual growth of 30.5%; among these, 69 cases involving 185 individuals were related to financial fraud, and 27 of the 31 major cases supervised by the Supreme People's Procuratorate have been prosecuted. In 2024, the CSRC handled 739 various cases, issued 592 penalty decisions, and imposed fines and confiscations totaling 15.3 billion yuan, doubling from the previous year. Notably, the China Evergrande Group financial fraud case resulted in fines exceeding 4 billion yuan, and its auditing firm received a record "largest ever" fine of 441 million yuan. The不断完善的行刑衔接机制 has become a vital support for governance work. Since the establishment of the Supreme People's Procuratorate's office within the CSRC in 2021, 587 major cases have been assigned to local procuratorates, forming a work model involving synchronous assignment, early intervention, and joint supervision. In May 2024, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, jointly with the Supreme People's Court, the Ministry of Public Security, and the CSRC, issued the "Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Handling of Securities and Futures Crime Cases," further standardizing case jurisdiction, evidence application, and行刑衔接 procedures,推动 the landing rate, actual sentence rate, and severe sentence rate for transferred cases to显著提升. In 2024, the CSRC transferred 163 various cases involving over 600 individuals, with the deterrent effect of criminal打击持续释放.

Second, the convening of the inter-ministerial work promotion symposium further broadened the scope of协同治理. If the联动 between the CSRC and the Supreme People's Procuratorate focuses on "行刑衔接," then the joint effort of 11 departments constructs a comprehensive, three-dimensional accountability system covering "administrative supervision - criminal punishment - civil compensation - integrity constraints." The participation of departments like the Ministry of Finance, the State Taxation Administration, and the State Administration for Market Regulation can provide more support for detecting and打击 financial fraud from dimensions such as fiscal and tax supervision and market entity verification; the participation of the Supreme People's Court helps improve civil compensation mechanisms, providing judicial safeguards for investor rights protection. It is worth mentioning that the不断健全 of investor protection mechanisms has become a crucial落脚点 for building a "fair, just, and open" environment. Since 2024, the CSRC has supported several special representative lawsuits, including the first mid-litigation settlement of a misrepresentation special representative lawsuit, where 7,195 investors received compensation exceeding 280 million yuan; investor protection agencies also initiated the first代位诉讼 against a controlling shareholder of a listed company for fund embezzlement, recovering 240 million yuan. In the cases disclosed in 2025, the China Securities Investor Services Center明确 stated it will assist investors in维权 through支持诉讼 and示范判决, forming a良性循环 of "investigating one case, compensating many."

Third, from a governance perspective, current regulation has shifted from "post-facto punishment" to "punishment and prevention simultaneously." The CSRC is continuously improving its ability to detect illegal线索 by perfecting the线索举报 reward system, leveraging internal "whistleblowers," and closely monitoring suspicious signs like "big baths" and sudden earnings revisions. Procuratorial organs,结合 case handling, issue procuratorial suggestions to promote industry governance improvements in areas like the management of financial institution practitioners and the self-discipline of the accounting industry, achieving the effect of "handling one case, governing an area."