On 8 September, The Rt. Hon. the Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, former Chair of the Steering Group of the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts (SIFoCC) and President of the Qatar International Court; Sir William Blair, former Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court of the High Court of England and Wales and member of the SIFoCC Steering Group; and Sir Robin Knowles, Judge of the Commercial Court of the High Court of England and Wales and the judge with day-to-day responsibility for SIFoCC, visited the Shanghai Financial Court(SFC ，or the “Court”). Zhao Hong, President of the SFC, met with the visiting delegation .
Zhao Hong extended a warm welcome to the guests. She introduced the practical exploration of the SFC as China’s first specialized financial court, with a particular focus on its work in foreign-related financial adjudication. She noted that, as global financial markets continue to evolve and develop new, difficult and complex cross-border financial disputes keep emerging, placing higher demands on the professional capacity and governance standards of financial adjudication. Although judicial systems differ from country to country, the goals of maintaining financial stability, safeguarding fair market competition, and promoting the progress of the rule of law are highly consistent. Since its establishment in 2018, the SFC has been committed to building itself into a “specialized, internationalized, digital and intelligent” world-class financial court and, through the formulation of rules and innovation in mechanisms, to providing Chinese and foreign parties with fair, efficient, convenient and predictable financial judicial protection. At present, as financial globalization deepens, emerging forms of financial business flourish and cross-border judicial needs become increasingly diverse, she hoped that this visit and exchange would serve as an opportunity to deepen mutual learning among the judiciaries of different jurisdictions, enhance reciprocal benefit and mutual trust, strengthen judicial cooperation, jointly participate in and improve the formulation of international financial rule-of-law norms, safeguard financial innovation and opening-up, and contribute judicial synergy to global financial governance.
“In this modern building, we see many technological features.” “It is very important to use circuit trials to popularize legal knowledge among the market participants.” “I am greatly inspired by the Shanghai Financial Court’s major typical cases.” During the visit, The Rt. Hon. the Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd spoke highly of the Court’s innovative practices and development achievements. He said that the visit had been most encouraging and that he had witnessed the renewed spirit and thriving vitality of the Court’s development. He was particularly impressed by the Court’s judicial measures for the convenience of the public and its work in publicizing typical cases, both of which, in his view, help strengthen market entities’ trust in the law and in judges and enhance the credibility of the judiciary. The Rt. Hon. the Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd noted that the judicial system of the United Kingdom continues to progress and develop through mutual learning with other countries and by drawing upon their advanced judicial experience. On his first visit to the SFC in 2023, he was deeply impressed by the intelligent interpreting system for court hearings. Technology has brought convenience to judicial adjudication and international cooperation in all countries, but it has also given rise to new legal issues. He hoped that the judicial community of all countries would further strengthen exchanges and cooperation, build consensus, and jointly consolidate the rule of law as a solid pillar of social trust.
Sir William Blair and Sir Robin Knowles said that they were pleased to visit the SFC again and looked forward to more forms of dialogue and exchange between the two sides in the future, so as to continuously deepen mutual understanding.
The two sides discussed issues including the confirmation of rights in digital assets, the application of artificial intelligence and the financial markets test case scheme, and presented books to each other.
During the visit, the delegation toured the Court’s Litigation Service Center, cultural exhibition hall and other facilities.
Shan Suhua, member of the Leading Party Members’ Group and Vice President of the SFC, Fu Wang, Full-time Member of the Adjudication Committee, and heads of relevant departments of the Shanghai High People’s Court and the SFC attended the meeting.
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