CSRC to change approval process

A China Securities Regulatory Commission official announced that �preferred� firms will be given accelerated approval for new businesses and that other less-favored firms will be dealt with firmly, according to a Securities Times report. Recent scandals involving D�long-controlled firms in which investors have lost all or nearly all of their investments have pressed regulators with the question of who is legally responsible if an investment firm goes bust. Urumqi, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region-based Jin Xin Trust Investment recently defaulted on payments to investors, who later staged sit-ins in Shanghai to protest the loss of their money. The D�long-controlled firm managed a multi-million dollar dairy-investment fund which guaranteed investors a 5.2% one-year return on their investments.