U.S. halts IPOs for Chinese-based companies

There won't be any Chinese companies ringing the opening bell on a U.S. stock exchange to mark an American IPO anytime soon.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has stopped processing registrations for any U.S. initial public offerings and other securities sales by any Chinese company, Reuters has learned exclusively from people familiar with the matter.

The decision was made as America's top securities regulator crafts new guidance on how Chinese companies must disclose to investors the risk faced by a new

regulatory crackdown by Beijing.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on Friday asked staff to mandate certain disclosures from Chinese-based companies before IPO registrations can be declared effective.

He also said in a statement that the new disclosures will require Chinese companies tell the regulator and investors whether certain actions could affect the firm's "financial performance and the enforceability of the contractual arrangements."

And it's not just Chinese companies looking to debut on U.S. exchanges that have to reveal more.

Earlier this week, SEC commissioner Alison Lee said Chinese companies already listed need to be more transparent about the risks to this Chinese crackdown.

Investors were burned when Chinese regulators banned ride-sharing giant Didi Global from signing up new users just days after its blockbuster U.S. IPO.

Since then Didi's market value has be slashed by nearly a third- with $21 billon in market value erased.

Beijing followed that up with crackdowns on technology and private education companies.

Chinese online retail behemoth Alibaba, which reports quarterly results next week, has been caught up in the melee.

The stock widely-held by U.S. investors is down 16 percent so far this year.