China's New Financial Court

Last August, China established the Shanghai Financial Court (the "court") as an initiative of the Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission, formerly known as the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms and chaired by Xi Jinping. The court was established as a novel court specializing in financial matters. It serves primarily as a domestic institution, but has ambitions to adjudicate international financial disputes with a nexus to China as well.

Proposals for a specialized financial court had been discussed in the Shanghai financial community for several years. According to President of the court Zhao Hong, a former president of the Shanghai Maritime Court, the court is presently in its "start-up" phase.¹