(Yicai Global) June 2 -- China's main securities regulator has started identifying former officials for initial public offering sponsors to avoid having people with insider information abuse their power via new listings.

An IPO sponsor can apply for the China Securities Regulatory Commission to reveal whether one of its former employees is a shareholder of a listing applicant, the CSRC wrote in a press release yesterday.

Mid-level and higher-ranking officials within the CSRC, the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, or the National Equities Exchange and Quotations, are not allowed to own shares in a listed company for three years after leaving their positions.

"The CSRC has always attached great importance to the supervision of shareholders of firms about to get listed," the regulator said on May 28.

The CSRC will study and develop institutional measures to stop ex-officials' "improper shareholding" which includes making use of their influence in seeking investment opportunities, buying equities during the three-year ban, and using illegal funds, it added.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi