Chinese regulator plans to cut IPO queue

The Wall Street Journal reports China’s securities regulator is looking to cull the nearly 900-strong backlog of companies seeking to list on domestic stock exchanges by weeding those deemed unsuitable. Sources said the regulator wants to pare the pipeline of companies applying for initial public offerings but hasn’t given brokerages that handle the process a target for how many clients they should cut from their list applicants. The number of companies awaiting approval to go public on China’s main stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen has ballooned in recent months. The backlog started to expand particularly after the CSRC banned IPOs for several months following the crash in Chinese shares last summer.