After four months after taking over as the stock market regulator of China, Xiao Gang attended the government meeting with gray hair. His look provoked discussions of whether or not he has turned gray because of the challenges he was confronted in overseeing Asia's worst-performing major bourse or is he had stopped putting hair dye.

Xiao is stuck with more than 700 companies who are waiting to raise funds and leaders in China pledging to clean up corruption. The Securities Regulatory Commission of China was held under pressure by investors as the latter avoid further worsening a 25% slump in the Shanghai Composite Index since July 2010. The new drafted rules to curb misconduct would establish penalties for investment banks before the end of a 10-month freeze on IPOs in China.

There were 83 companies with IPO applications that have been cleared by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) listing committee. The said initial public offering applications are still pending final approval. The IPOs would raise US$9.1 billion according to the estimates from Ernst & Young LLP in June.