BEIJING — A Chinese regulator lashed out at “financial crocodiles” that gobbled up retail investors’ interests on the stock market on Feb 26, vowing stricter regulation.

Some “barbarians” and “crocodiles” hurt retail investors by plundering the stock market under the cloak of legality, said Liu Shiyu, chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), at a press conference.

Liu said he was “astonished at the chaos” of the stock market after he assumed office last year.

‘The lure of money is huge ... On the capital market, financiers are just half a step away from “financial crocodiles”, Liu told reporters.

He said the CSRC’s top priority is market regulation, which “allows no ambiguity or wavering”.

His remarks came after “barbaric” behaviors of some Chinese insurers that used leveraged money to buy shares in listed companies, arousing wide public concern late last year. Triggering sharp volatility in the market, such moves annoyed corporate executives and caused individual investors to suffer.

China’s insurance regulator said on Feb 25 it had restricted stock trading by Evergrande Life, a unit of property conglomerate Evergrande Group, for one year due to the insurer’s irregular investment operations.

On Feb 24, the insurance regulator barred Yao Zhenhua, chairman of Foresea Life Insurance, from the insurance industry for 10 years for irregular market operations.