China's A shares raise 724.9 bln yuan in 2014

China's A shares raised altogether 724.9 billion yuan (118.19 billion U.S. dollars) in 2014, according to the country's securities watchdog.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said that 47.1 billion yuan was raised through the initial public offering (IPO) of 94 enterprises, and 677.8 billion yuan from the refunding by 609 listed companies.

The CSRC said it continued reforms on phasing out the current approval-based method for IPOs and implementing a registration-based system.

The commission has been lowering the access threshold and improving the funding system of the ChiNext Board, China's Nasdaq-style board which mainly lists hi-tech companies and those with high growth potentials.

Meanwhile, better policies and regulations for acquisition of listed companies were promoted last year, said the CSRC.