The top official at China's market watchdog on Thursday called for swifter efforts in 2017 to crack down on illegal activities in the financial market, to ensure market order and to prevent risks.
China will "severely punish capital magnets who challenge the foundation of the law and catch both the mice as well as the wolves," Liu Shiyu, the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), said during a recent trip to the agency's inspection bureau and enforcement task force, according to a press release of the agency on Thursday.
Liu commended the division's work in 2016 that contributed to market order and helped protect investors' interests, but said that such work must continue and at a intensified level.
In 2016, the CSRC, amid an "unprecedentedly complex" environment, announced 218 penalties in 183 cases, with the number of penalties up 21 percent from 2015, the CSRC said in a statement on December 30.
Total capital confiscated exceeded 4.28 billion yuan ($622.08 million), up 288 percent, it added.
