The New York Stock Exchange has become the first overseas exchange to be granted approval by Chinese regulators to open an office in Beijing, paving the way for stiffer competition for Chinese listings. Winning new listings from China and India is seen as crucial to success in the increasingly competitive global equity and derivatives exchange business. But many Chinese and Indian companies have shied away from US listings due to concerns over stringent regulatory and reporting requirements under Sarbanes Oxley legislation. Chinese issuers have raised more than $25.1bn this year through IPOs, accounting for 14 per cent of global IPO proceeds and second only to the $29.6bn from the US, according to Thomson Financial.