A road to the capital markets for many Chinese companies that once culminated with a listing on Wall Street is rapidly becoming a dead end.

Such new listings have slowed to a trickle lately, squeezed on both sides of the Pacific by increasingly tough regulatory scrutiny in both the U.S. and China. First the U.S. turned up the heat on small Chinese listings that have become the new norm by announcing restrictive new measures in September. Now, investment bankers are also complaining that new listing applications are coming under lengthy scrutiny by Chinese regulators.

“Many Chinese companies are seeking a U.S. listing, but the CSRC is choking the process," a Chinese IPO lawyer told Bamboo Works, referring to the China Securities Regulatory Commission, China’s securities watchdog, which set up a filing system two years ago to vet all offshore share sales by Chinese companies.