Civil and commercial financial cases

The Shanghai Financial Court has jurisdiction over the following civil and commercial financial cases which should be accepted by intermediate people¡¯s courts in Shanghai

I.               Ordinary civil and commercial financial disputes, including:

(1)     Disputes involving securities and futures transactions, trusts, insurance, negotiable instruments, letters of credit, financial loan contracts, bank cards, financial leasing contracts, investment management contracts, and pawn contracts, etc.;

(2)     Financial institution-related disputes involving mortgages, pledges, loan contracts, guarantee contracts, mortgage contracts, pledge contracts, security deposit contracts, import and export documentary letters of credit, savings deposit contracts, custody contracts, mandate contracts, partnership agreements, service contracts, rights of recourse, etc.;

The financial institution as mentioned in the preceding paragraph refers to any institution legally approved and established to engage in financial-related transactions, mainly including: banks, stock exchanges, futures exchanges, gold exchanges, securities depository and clearing companies, securities companies, futures companies, trust companies, insurance companies, fund companies, financial asset management companies, financial holding companies, financial leasing companies, auto finance companies, finance companies (with financial licenses), guarantee companies, pawn shops, micro-lending companies, factoring companies, private investment funds registered with the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC), etc.;

(3)     Disputes involving property damages and unjust enrichment caused by financial transactions to which financial institutions are a party; and

(4)     Listed company-related disputes governed by the Securities Law of the People's Republic of China and rules on the supervision and trading of securities, including those involving the acquisitions of listed companies, transfer of shares of listed companies, and capital increase.

II.      New civil and commercial financial disputes, including:

(1)     First-instance disputes involving independent guarantees;

(2)     Disputes caused by the factoring business of commercial banks, commercial factoring companies, and other entities;

(3)     Disputes caused by the fund-related business activities of private fund managers and private funds registered with the AMAC, such as private placement, internal management, and external investments;

(4)     Disputes caused by the payment business of non-banking institutions which have obtained the Payment Business License and been approved to provide online payment services, such as internet, mobile phone, fixed phone, and digital TV-based payment services;

(5)     Disputes caused by the assignment of debt claims, provision of information intermediary services, and other business activities by plaintiffs or defendants who are legally established or registered online lending platforms; and

(6)     Disputes caused by fund raising activities in which investors obtain a certain share of the equity interests, partnership property, and other property interests of target enterprises via internet-based crowd funding platforms.

III.     Disputes involving the bankruptcy of financial institutions.

IV.     Requests for recognition and enforcement of court judgments or arbitral awards, including

(1)     Requests for recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments or rulings over civil and commercial financial disputes;

(2)     Requests for recognition and enforcement of HK SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan Region court judgments over civil and commercial financial disputes;

(3)     Requests for recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards over civil and commercial financial disputes; and

(4)     Requests for recognition and enforcement of HK SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan Region arbitral awards over civil and commercial financial disputes.

The value of the subject matter of civil and commercial financial cases acceptable to the Shanghai Financial Court:

I.       For first-instance civil and commercial financial cases which are not foreign, HK, Macao or Taiwan-related ones, the subject matter amount should be between RMB 100 million and RMB 5 billion, or between RMB 50 million and RMB 5 billion if either party thereto is not domiciled in Shanghai.

II.      For first-instance civil and commercial financial cases which are foreign, HK, Macao or Taiwan-related ones, the subject matter amount should be between RMB 10 million (RMB 20 million for Pudong New Area District, Huangpu District, and Qingpu District) and RMB 5 billion.

III.     Notwithstanding the foregoing, cases such as disputes involving securities-related misrepresentations and futures are under the jurisdiction of intermediate people¡¯s courts, without regard to the value of their subject matter.