Laura Cha was appointed by the Central Government as vice chairwoman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) in early 2001 and served in the post until 2004. She was the first person outside the mainland to join the Chinese Government at the vice-ministerial rank. Her efforts were focused on improving the corporate governance of Chinese listed companies and the process of public issuance of shares in China. She is currently the vice chairwoman of the International Advisory Council of the CSRC.
Before joining CSRC, Laura Cha spent 10 years with Hong Kong's capital markets regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, and was appointed deputy chairwoman in 1998. On her appointment, her public service experience in regulating Hong Kong's capital market was highly valued, and helped her to rein in the emerging market on the Chinese mainland.
Cha believes that China's economic reforms and expansion into new markets will dramatically improve China's capital markets while at the same time aligning them with international standards. She has cited several driving forces for capital market development in China: a new economic growth model, the rapid growth of the private sector, the pressing need for pension reform, remarkable investor demand and China's entry into the WTO in 2001.
During her extended term, she has embarked on initiatives including regulating the behavior of controlling shareholders, setting up an independent director's system, strengthening information dissemination, promulgating a code of corporate governance for listed companies in China and facilitating reforms of the legal and accounting systems.
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