BEIJING — The focus of China's securities regulation next year will be maintaining stability while pursuing reform, the country's securities chief has said.

"Priority will be given to stabilizing growth, fending off risks and advancing reform," Yi Huiman, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), told Xinhua in an interview.

On the one hand, the CSRC will arrange efforts to ensure the stability of the market, policies and expectations, and on the other hand, it will seek advancement in reform, opening-up and support for the high-quality development of the real economy, he said.

As a significant reform step, the CSRC is working to implement the registration-based initial public offering (IPO) reform across the board, Yi revealed.

The registration-based IPO reform will be a catalyst in China's capital market reform, he said, noting that it will be an opportunity to coordinate other major reforms and push forward innovation in key systems.

In recent years, risks in China's capital market have dwindled and are on the whole manageable, while improvements have been witnessed in market structure, vitality and resilience, Yi said.

But he warned that the financial sector is still prone to risks, pledging efforts to safeguard the sound development of the capital market, defuse risks in key areas, and enhance institutions as well as regulatory capabilities.

To facilitate government efforts in capital regulation, Yi said the CSRC will encourage capital to better play its positive role as a factor of production, and at the same time work with relevant parties to establish an effective mechanism to rein in capital's negative effects.

The CSRC will exercise strict oversight on financing, mergers and acquisitions in specific sectors to support capital to develop in a sound and orderly manner, he said.