Financial investment and corporate bond offering and listing review: textual analysis based on securities exchange review feedback letters

China has continued to promote registration-based reform in the bond market, and financial investment has become prevalent among non-financial firms. Using corporate bonds issued from May 2015 to October 2022, this study manually collects textual data from review feedback letters to examine how issuers’ financial investment behavior affects corporate bond offering and listing review. The results show that financial investment behavior significantly increases both the likelihood of receiving review feedback letters and review intensity. Channel analyses suggest that such investment heightens financial distress risk and weakens information disclosure quality, leading to more stringent review. Heterogeneity analyses indicate that the positive effects are weaker for bonds with put options, issued by listed firms, or underwritten by reputable underwriters. Further analysis shows that investment property drives the positive effects, whereas short-term financial investment has the opposite effect. This study offers practical implications for non-financial firms’ financing decisions under the registration-based system.