Watchdog tightens scrutiny on IPOs

China's top securities regulator tightened the scrutiny on initial public offerings, vowing on Friday to eliminate any unqualified new share issues by companies.

The move came after the regulator announced the termination of its review of IPO applications for 17 companies submitted between January and May, citing reasons that included unclear capital origins of shareholders, incomplete information disclosure and substantial profit decline or losses.

The regulator will particularly look into IPO fraud by companies that attempt to "whitewash" their financial accounts to gain regulatory approval and fail to disclose proper information to investors, said Deng Ge, the spokesman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.