On July 18, an influential symposium unveiled at the Shanghai Financial Court (SFC), the first specialized financial court in China, along Fuzhou Road, by the Huangpu River.
As the SFC approaches its fifth anniversary, the symposium provided an opportunity to review past achievements and look ahead to the future. Experts from various fields, including law and finance, gathered together to share their insights on many topics, such as what accomplishments the SFC has made, what goals it has achieved, and how it can contribute more significantly to and break new ground in serving and supporting the construction of Shanghai as an international financial center, as well as Shanghai’s high-quality development and high-level reform and opening-up.
The symposium took place when the thematic education campaign to study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era was underway. Therefore, it is not only an evaluation of the SFC’s achievements over the past five years, but also a gathering of individuals from various sectors to discuss plans for future development. More than anything, it serves as an open survey conference on the “high-quality development of a specialized financial court”.
Attendees at the symposium included Jia Yu, secretary of the Party Leadership Group and president of the Shanghai High People’s Court; Han Shunfang, head of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Eighth Circuit Steering Group for Thematic Education; Xie Shenghua, member of the Party Committee and deputy chief editor of the Supreme People’s Court News and Media Agency; Lu Weidong, member of the Standing Committee and chairman of the Supervisory and Judicial Affairs Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress; Sheng Yongqiang, deputy director of the Shanghai Committee of CPPCC for Social and Legal Affairs, deputy chief prosecutor and deputy secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Procuratorate; Cheng Hehong, secretary of the Party Committee and director of the Shanghai Office of China Securities Regulatory Commission; as well as representatives from the Shanghai Municipal Audit Bureau, Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, and the Shanghai Head Office of the People’s Bank of China. Leaders from the Pudong New Area Party Committee, Huangpu District Party Committee and other local legal institutions were also present. Zhao Hong, secretary of the Party Leadership Group and president of the SFC, presided over the meeting.
During the meeting, Zhao Hong, following the theme of “High-Quality Development of a Specialized Financial Court”, reviewed the work that the SFC has carried out over the five years since its inception to achieve the goal of becoming a “specialized, international, and intelligent” world-class financial court. Leaders and guests in attendance gave speeches and exchanged views, highly praising the achievements of the SFC over its five years of operation. As the first specialized financial court in the country, the SFC has brought into full play its role in financial adjudication, serving the national financial strategy and supporting the construction of Shanghai as an international financial center, in an effort to achieve its goal of becoming a “specialized, international, and intelligent” world-class financial court. With an enterprising spirit, a can-do attitude, and determination to open up innovation, it has significantly contributed to the big picture, pioneered rules, developed premium innovative mechanisms, blazed new trails in judicial reform, and established a competent team of talent. With its outstanding achievements and brilliant accomplishments, it has provided the “Shanghai Experience” to the high-quality development of China’s financial judiciary, embodying its vision and responsibility as the first financial court of China.
Confronted with new situations and tasks, how will the SFC provide even higher-level financial rule of law to support the high-quality development of finance in a coordinated manner? What new expectations and demands do various sectors of society have for the SFC? Leaders and guests at the meeting put forward targeted suggestions and recommendations to address these questions.
Jia Yu, secretary of the Party Leadership Group and president of the Shanghai High People’s Court, while acknowledging the achievements of the SFC over its five years of operation, hoped that the SFC would continue to set its eyes on the goal of “becoming specialized, international, and intelligent” and boost the credentials of Shanghai financial judiciary. He expressed four specific requirements for the future development of the SFC:
The first is to enhance political stance and improve financial judicial service capability. Jia Yu urged the court to fully grasp the CPC Central Committee’s decisions, leverage Shanghai’s geographical advantages, and fully embrace financial opening-up and innovation. The court should further refine the rules for coordination between financial judiciary and supervision, establish a long-term mechanism for financial risk prevention, and firmly hold the bottom line of preventing systemic financial risks.
The second is to strengthen specialization and boost the credentials of Shanghai’s financial judiciary. Jia Yu called for continuous optimization of the financial adjudication system and the expansion of application scope of new litigation mechanisms to enhance the specialization of financial adjudication. Remaining dedicated to the goal of building Shanghai into an "International Financial Judicial Center", the court should actively carry out the Financial Adjudication Excellence Program, and strive to be a maker and pacesetter of international financial judicial rules, amplifying Shanghai’s influence in the global financial judicial system.
The third is to embrace digital empowerment and develop a digital approach for financial supervision. Shanghai courts are investing efforts in building a comprehensive judicial supervision and management platform and creating a supervision model. He encouraged the SFC to develop a “New Model of Financial Judiciary in the Digital Era” by keeping close track of trends in the financial market, actively exploring the application routes, fields and scenarios of the digital court, and applying digital supervision methods to aid handling of financial judicial cases and to provide early warning for and prevent financial risks.
The fourth is to enhance team competence and establish a reservoir of financial judiciary talent. Jia Yu urged the SFC to broaden its horizon and engage in extensive international exchanges in financial adjudication. He emphasized the need to improve joint talent development mechanisms, and to collaborate with financial regulatory agencies, universities, and specialized research institutions, so as to cultivate more legal talent that can help Shanghai to build itself into an international financial judicial center.
Regarding the future development of the SFC, president Jia Yu expressed new expectations, stating, “I hope that the SFC will continue to make new achievements and contributions in its new journey, gain a firm foothold in fulfilling its financial judicial responsibilities, implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, and continuously burnish the credentials of Shanghai’s financial adjudication.”
Sun Hui, member of the Party Committee and deputy director of the Shanghai Head Office of the People’s Bank of China, expressed an expectation to continue strengthening cooperation in the financial sector between the SFC and the Shanghai Head Office, which aims to better serve the overall development of China’s financial sector, and accelerate the development of Shanghai as an international financial judicial center. He offered the SFC two suggestions:
The first is to uphold the role of the rule of law in guiding and safeguarding the high-quality development of the financial sector, and strengthen financial judiciary protection. He encouraged the SFC to provide stronger judicial safeguards in preventing financial risks, promoting a virtuous cycle between the real economy and finance, and deepening financial reforms.
The second is to collaborate with other parties on innovative research in financial judicature matters and improve the supply of high-quality financial systems. He called on the SFC to continue deepening cooperation and research in financial judicature matters, promote the transformation of research results into practical applications, and train compound talent with both financial and legal skills and an international perspective to provide legal support for high-level reform and opening-up in the financial industry.
Zhou Xiaoquan, deputy secretary of the CPC Shanghai Financial Work Committee and director of the Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, also expressed the hope for continued collaboration and coordination with the SFC in four areas to further enhance Shanghai’s development as an international financial center to a new level:
In terms of steadily expanding institutional opening-up, the SFC should expand the application scope of the financial market case testing mechanism, and conduct legal risk stress tests for financial business innovations such as the construction of major platforms including the international financial asset trading platform, as well as the issuance of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone offshore bonds.
To deepen financial reform and innovation, the SFC should correctly apply international treaties, and reasonably adopt the transaction rules, clearing rules, self-regulatory rules, and conventions of the international financial market, offering high-quality judicial guarantees for the introduction of foreign capital and the expansion of Chinese capital abroad.
To strengthen the coordination and joint governance of financial regulation and financial judicature, the SFC should continue to leverage the advantage of concentrated jurisdiction over financial cases to mitigate risks involving mass stakeholders, continuously improve the system of the joint meeting for financial stability of the city, and effectively safeguard financial security and social stability.
To create a business environment based on financial laws, the SFC should promote the effective implementation of the Several Provisions on the Development of Green Finance in Shanghai Pudong New Area, guarantee the wide application of the “compliance one-code pass” for market entities in the financial market, and promote the construction of a diversified dispute resolution mechanism in local financial regulation.
Wang Hong, member of the Party Committee and vice general manager of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), believed that the SFC has provided indispensable judicial support for the reform and development of the SSE. She hoped that the SSE would, by leveraging the mechanism of coordinating financial judicature and financial supervision to prevent and resolve risks, further deepen the SSE’s connection and coordination with the SFC in terms of expertise, rules, personnel, and information, fully support the SFC’s financial trial work and collaboratively elevate the level of coordination and governance in financial judicature.
Lü Hongbing, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and chief supervisor of the All-China Lawyers Association, recalled that 13 years ago, he and other CPPCC members jointly proposed the suggestion to establish a financial court at an appropriate time. He has witnessed the establishment and development of the SFC and looks forward to its continued progress. He hoped that the SFC would forge ahead with a pioneering spirit, contribute to the continuous improvement of laws and regulations through judicial proceedings, launch classic cases, and continue to train outstanding talent in financial judicature. Moreover, he hoped that the SFC would showcase a better image of China in financial judicature on the international stage.
Zhang Yong, vice dean of the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, believed that the cooperation lasting over four years between the SAIF and the SFC have yielded fruitful results. Standing at a new and higher starting point, both sides are expected to further strengthen comprehensive strategic cooperation and contribute in three key areas:
Firstly, it should propose the “Shanghai Solution” in the fields of international financial and legal talent training, diverse resolution mechanisms for cross-border financial disputes, and institutional opening-up of financial judicature, fulfilling its responsibility as a metropolis.
Secondly, it should conduct in-depth research on the testing mechanism for cases of the financial market, quantification models for calculating losses due to false statements in the securities market, the mechanism for implementing the principle that civil compensation takes priority, etc. These findings will be replicated and promoted at a higher level nationwide.
Thirdly, it should harness the power of technology and digital means which can play a greater role in case testing, case discussions, innovative research, international comparisons, etc. and ensure that it can forge ahead soundly and steadily along the path of innovation in such fields as the elements, types, methods, and areas of new transactions.
“Just as the saying goes, the construction of a tall building starts with its foundation. The establishment and development of the SFC are the result of the dedication, hard work, and innovation of all the court’s judges and staff. It also represents the sweat and toil of our leaders and colleagues, and could not have been achieved without the attention and support of all sectors of society,” said Zhao Hong, secretary of the Party Leadership Group and president of the SFC. “The first five years of the SFC are coming to an end, but our efforts to promote high-quality financial judicature in China will not stop. We will continue to explore ways to implement national strategies, take lead in setting international rules, and enhance the well-being of the people.” Amid new circumstances and facing new tasks, the SFC will continue to adhere to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. The SFC will thoroughly implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, and make full use of its geological advantage in Shanghai as an international financial center, its first-mover advantage as the first specialized financial court in China, and its judicial advantage of concentrated jurisdiction of financial cases. Focusing on the theme of “fairness and efficiency”, the SFC will strive to establish “Chinese standards” and “Shanghai rules” in financial judicature, creating a new height for international financial judicature.
Embarking on a new journey in the new era, the SFC will maintain an enterprising and aspiring spirit, forging ahead valiantly as a pioneer and pathfinder. The SFC will continue to push its work to new heights, providing high-quality financial judicature services to support the construction of Shanghai as an international financial center and ensuring the steady and sound progress of Chinese modernization with the modernization of judicial work.
Attendees of the meeting also watched a documentary on the five years of work by the SFC. Lin Xiaonie, member of the Party Leadership Group and vice president of the SFC, reported on the achievements of the court in rule creation, mechanism innovation, and talent training.
More than 80 people, including representatives from financial regulatory agencies, the Shanghai Arbitration Commission, the Shanghai International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, the Shanghai Bar Association, major financial infrastructure entities, various universities, news media, as well as National People’s Congress deputies, members of the CPPCC, and judges and staff from Shanghai’s three levels of courts who have contributed greatly to the establishment of the SFC, attended the meeting.
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