Delisting Chinese firms from US stock exchanges will drive business elsewhere: NYSE head

[WASHINGTON] Forcing Chinese companies to delist from US equities markets offers no protection for US investors but it would prompt the firms to take their business elsewhere, the head of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) said on Thursday.

"It wouldn't mean that US investors would be protected if that happened," said Stacey Cunningham, president of Intercontinental Exchange-owned NYSE. "It just would mean other markets would be attracting more listings."

"That would mean Alibaba and all of these other large companies couldn't come to the US anymore, and so we've been lobbying to solve the problem instead of just legislating companies away," Ms Cunnigham said at a Security Traders Association conference in Washington.

Last Friday, sources said the Trump administration was considering delisting Chinese companies from US stock exchanges. The move would be part a broader effort to limit US investment in Chinese companies, the sources said, citing growing security concerns about the companies.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro later dismissed a Bloomberg report, that was confirmed by several other news organisations, including Reuters, on the matter as "fake news".

In June, US lawmakers from both parties introduced a bill to force Chinese companies listed on American stock exchanges to submit to regulatory oversight, including providing access to audits, or face delisting.

REUTERS