BEIJING - Chinese mainland will deepen cooperation in securities regulation with Hong Kong to fully protect investors' rights and interests.

The Ministry of Finance and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) on Wednesday.

The MoU made arrangements to grant the SFC access to the draft documents of Hong Kong accounting firms auditing Hong Kong-listed companies from the mainland.

The regulatory cooperation mechanism between the mainland and Hong Kong has also been improved in the MoU.

Strengthening cooperation is needed to promote the markets' connectivity and deepen the financial reform since more enterprises from the mainland went public and issued bonds in Hong Kong, Deputy Minister of Finance Cheng Lihua said.

It is an important way to protect investors' rights and interests, as well as a new start for deepening cooperation in securities regulation, said Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the CSRC.

It is the first time that the SFC signed an MoU with two mainland regulators at the same time, the SFC CEO Ashley Alder said, adding that the SFC has confidence in effectively cracking down on cross-border violations and better protecting the healthy development of the financial industry.