CHINESE IPOs in the US, which have suffered from pariah status in recent years, seem to be staging a comeback as the American economy improves.

Shares in e-commerce platform JD.com have surged 40 percent since the company’s debut on the Nasdaq on May 22, and Internet giant Alibaba is preparing for what could be the biggest initial public offering in the US.

Jackie Kelley, Ernst & Young’s Americas IPO Leader, said the recent surge of listings by Chinese companies in the US indicates that the economic recovery in China is progressing.

Kelley leads EY’s IPO “go-to-market” strategy for the Americas, which includes delivering more than 500 top executive strategy sessions focusing on IPO readiness and post-IPO effectiveness in recent years.

A graduate of the University of Southern California, she is a certified public accountant with more than 20 years experience in providing audit and advisory services to private clients and public companies.

Kelley talked with a group of reporters about Chinese listings in the US.

Q: Do you think more Chinese companies will be listing in the US this year?

A: We definitely expect more Chinese companies to list in the US because the market in China is still coming to fruition. The number of companies in China looking for access to capital is about 600. We expect a number of those companies to look to the US and other markets to list. We hope to have 20 Chinese listing in the US this year. This will be the best year since 2010, when approximately 40 Chinese companies went public in the US.

Q: Why the improvement?

A: Because of the economic challenges here, Chinese companies have just not had access to the capital market. The US economy probably was the first to go into recession and also the first to come out. The economy in the US has been fairly stable for a couple of years.

Last year was a record year for us. We had 226 IPOs in the US, and about 15 percent of them were international companies. They represented companies in all industries. It’s worth mentioning that it was a big year for health care, which was the No.1 sector. We haven’t had health care IPOs in the US in many years. The market had been dominated by technology, financial services and real estate companies.

Q: How would you describe the American appetite for Chinese listings? As we know, there have been concerns about the integrity of Chinese companies.

A: I think investors are looking for returns. When they experienced challenges with Chinese companies, they were more inclined to go to safer investments. But we have seen recently that institutional investors are showing willingness to invest in health care companies, which are higher risk. They are looking for innovation. They are willing to make investments in riskier segments. I would say that includes investing in international companies, including those from China.

Q: What kinds of Chinese companies are more popular in the US market?

A: Six of eight Chinese companies that have listed in the US in the first five months of this year are technology-related companies. Investors are definitely interested in the Internet and e-commerce companies. But one of the most important criteria today is the ability of a company to demonstrate growth.

That has been a hurdle for some of the Internet companies, especially for mid-size companies that may have demonstrated growth but not profit. In the US, you are not required to have profits to list on stock exchanges, but the expectation is that a listed company will be increasing profit and driving very strong growth rates.

This is not consistent. Different industries have different criteria. If you do not deliver and if the sector does not deliver profits, it penalizes all companies. I think the Internet giants that are going public right now are viewed differently because they have been in business for a long time. They have proven track records. They are very successful in what they do. Companies with big brand names frankly can go public in just about any market. We have had some very large companies go public in the worst of markets and had very successful IPOs.

Q: It seems Chinese companies prefer to go public in the US. Do you think China’s ongoing reform of its IPO system will help win back some listings?

A: In 2012, the US also was facing a similar situation. So we loosened some of our regulatory requirements in order to increase interest by companies around the world in listing on the US exchanges. There is a similar issue all around the world. Exchanges are finding that regulations limit IPOs to the largest companies. They want to promote IPOs in companies at the second level.

There was a Chinese company that recently went public in the US. The company said it also plans to list in the Chinese market, when it is accepted there. It wants to be close to its customers. What the US offered was access to capital in a timely fashion.

Q: What are hurdles for Chinese companies listing in the US?

A: It’s not just a matter of Chinese companies. Companies everywhere are competing for capital globally. US companies are competing not only with other companies in the US but also with companies around the world for a limited pool of capital. Regardless of what industry you are in and where your headquarters are, it is critical to be well prepared and have a very strong growth story for investors. Investors are looking to invest in companies that are able to deliver returns, both in the short and long term. The good news is that investors are looking more long term these days. That is very positive.

Chinese companies do face some unique issues around governance. Companies from other emerging markets face similar scrutiny. Alternatively, companies in emerging industries face a lot of scrutiny. Over the years, we have seen clean energy and life science companies have difficulties accessing the market.

Obviously Chinese companies do feel some tension due to the past performance of some of their peers. Having a high performing peer group is very important.

Q: China’s securities regulator said earlier that it would limit the number of IPOs here to 100 in the second half, which was about half what the market expected. What’s your comment on that?

A: I take it as a positive. At least there are 100 IPOs. I think it’s good to focus on quality. It would be better to go a little slower and have high quality IPOs than to have too many come out and then stumble.

As regulators start to see certain issues, they ask more questions. That may slow down the IPO process. But I think it’s positive. The actions will hopefully lay a solid foundation for a very robust 2015.