When Guo Shuqing became China’s top securities regulator in October, investors hoped that he would bring a reformist zeal to the job that would help break the stock market’s two-year losing streak.

They were right about the zeal but wrong about the impact on the market. Barely a week has gone by without the regulator announcing another new measure to improve the functioning of the country’s beleaguered market. But after a brief climb upwards, the benchmark Shanghai Composite index is down nearly 13 per cent since Mr Guo took office.

It is premature to dismiss his reforms as a failure. Over the longer term, analysts say that Mr Guo’s reform programme is putting the Chinese stock market on a more solid footing, helping to ensure that it will serve as an important channel for direct financing in an economy that has long been overly reliant on banks for credit.