To thoroughly implement the spirits of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and all the plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC, to fully implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on financial and political-legal work, as well as the spirit of his important speech made during his inspection in Shanghai, and to provide high-quality judicial services and protection for accelerating Shanghai's development as an international financial center, the Shanghai High People¡¯s Court held a press conference this morning (December 24) to release the Several Guidelines of Shanghai High People¡¯s Court on Providing Judicial Services and Protection for Accelerating Shanghai's Development as an International Financial Center (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines on Services and Protection.)

Lin Xiaonie, Vice President of the Shanghai High People¡¯s Court, and Zhu Chuan, Chief Judge of the Financial Division attended the press conference and answered questions from reporters. The press conference was hosted by Zhang Haijuan, Director of the Legal Publicity Division (News Center) and Spokesperson of the Shanghai High People¡¯s Court.

According to the Guidelines of the CPC Central Committee on Strengthening Judicial Work in New Era, the people¡¯s courts should enhance financial adjudication to promote the sound development of the financial market. Given that the development as an international financial center is an important component of Shanghai's "Five-Center" development, fulfilling the "Five Major Tasks" of finance is an important acting point to serve and support major national strategies and promote high-quality economic development. This year, China's Central Financial Commission issued the Guidelines on Supporting Accelerating the Development of Shanghai as an International Financial Center (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines on Accelerating Development,) which puts forward specific goals and requirements for Shanghai's development as an international financial center. The Financial Commission of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee issued the Shanghai's Plan for Implementing the (Guidelines on Supporting Accelerating the Development of Shanghai as an International Financial Center,) which specifies a series of specific tasks for accelerating Shanghai's development as an international financial center. The Shanghai Municipal Government's 15th Five-Year Plan also puts forward specific requirements for accelerating Shanghai's development as an international financial center, such as "enhancing the competitiveness and influence of Shanghai as an international financial center and improving the financial capabilities of serving the real economy."

The Guidelines on Services and Protection is exactly a key action of the Shanghai courts in actively blending in the overall national strategy, fully leveraging their financial trial functions, and serving Shanghai's development as an international financial center with judicial power.

As the first comprehensive judicial document of the Shanghai courts that gives a full response to the judicial needs for Shanghai's development as an international financial center in the new era, the Guidelines on Services and Protection consists of 30 articles and is divided into three main sections: general requirements, major measures, and comprehensive protection. The General Requirements section specifies the guiding ideology, basic principles, and objectives of the Guidelines on Services and Protection, emphasizing the need to deeply grasp the significant meaning of accelerating Shanghai's development as an international financial center, and underlining the basic principles: upholding the Party's absolute leadership, serving the overall development agenda, following the law-based orientation, and keeping the bottom line of risk prevention and control. The Major Measures section forms the main body of the Guidelines on Services and Protection. This section puts forward 22 specific measures in five aspects: serving the real economy, supporting high-level opening-up, consolidating market foundation, preventing financial risks, and improving dispute resolution mechanisms. The Comprehensive Protection section provides supporting measures for the implementation of the Guidelines on Services and Protection from three aspects: Party building guidance, talent development, and legal publicity.

The press conference announced that the Guidelines on Services and Protection focuses on "Five Major Tasks": sci-tech finance, green finance, inclusive finance, elderly care finance, and digital finance, implementing precise policies to activate new drivers of financial services for the real economy through judicial protection. For example, in the field of sci-tech finance, financial institutions are supported to innovate credit evaluation standards based on the technological values of sci-tech companies, such as patent quality, R&D team strength, and data asset scale, in order to solve the financing difficulty of "light assets and lacking collateral." Also, in the field of digital finance, the rules of evidence in digital finance disputes are improved. To address the major difficulties in storing, obtaining, and presenting electronic data evidence in internet finance and online transactions, targeted rules of evidence certification are made, and the review and certification standards of electronic data evidence are normalized.

Besides, the Guidelines on Services and Protection benchmarks against international best practices, providing high-level judicial protection in three aspects: improving the mechanism for international adjudication, protecting cross-border innovation and openness, and enhancing international exchanges and cooperation, thus providing certainty and predictability for cross-border financial innovation and international rules alignment.

Regarding security as the bottom line requirement for high-quality financial development, the Guidelines on Services and Protection proposes to keep the bottom line of preventing regional and systemic risks from three dimensions: "dealing with major financial risks according to the law," "improving the financial risk early warning and prevention mechanism," and "balancing financial innovation and risk prevention." With the help of the Shanghai Courts' Financial Risk Prevention and Early Warning Platform, the Shanghai courts monitor emerging problems in real time through judicial big data.

It is noteworthy that the newly released Guidelines on Services and Protection has three major features:

First, the new Guidelines benchmarks against the decisions and deployments of the Central Committee, the Shanghai Municipal Committee, and the Supreme People's Court, in close alignment with the tasks for accelerating Shanghai's development as an international financial center. Centering around the six core measures in the Guidelines on Accelerating Development issued by the Central Financial Commission, the Guidelines on Services and Protection gives a detailed description of the content, pathways, and methods of judicial services and protection. It also earnestly implements the relevant requirements of Shanghai's "15th Five-Year Plan" and the specific tasks deployed by the Financial Commission of the Shanghai Municipal Committee, closely combining the Central Committee's strategic intentions with Shanghai's local needs.

Second, the Guidelines on Services and Protection gives a full response to the judicial needs for Shanghai's development as an international financial center in the new era and systematically integrates the judicial functions of financial protection. The Guidelines on Services and Protection is the first systematic response to the primary missions of "serving the 'Five Major Tasks' of finance," "supporting high-level two-way opening up," "consolidating market foundation," "preventing financial risks," and "improving dispute resolution mechanisms." It forms an all-round multi-level judicial protection system with progressive steps from "goals to areas to measures" and interconnected links from "adjudication to enforcement to collaboration," demonstrating distinct systematic integration. The Guidelines on Services and Protection is another landmark achievement of the Shanghai courts in serving national strategies and "trying systems, testing pressure, and exploring new paths" for the country.

Third, the Guidelines on Services and Protection fully focuses on the innovation of forefront financial rules and the enhancement of supply efficiency of financial judicial rules. The Guidelines on Services and Protection proactively explores new rules and provides new efficiency for new business types and new fields. Through forward-looking analyses of the gaps and controversial points in financial reform and innovation, it provides market entities with clear behavior expectations and rule guidance.

"Next, the Shanghai courts will demonstrate more precise judicial adjudication, more efficient dispute resolution services, and more solid collaborative protection to provide stronger judicial protection for Shanghai's accelerated development as an international financial center that matches China's comprehensive national strength and international influence," said Lin Xiaonie.

Deputy's and Committee Member's Comments

Zhao Xinxing

Deputy of Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, Senior Manager of Pudong Sub-branch, Shanghai Branch, China Pacific Life Insurance Co., Ltd.

The Guidelines on Services and Protection is a comprehensive judicial document with rich content and far-reaching significance that gives the first full response to the judicial needs for Shanghai's development as an international financial center in the new era. As a pioneer in financial reform and innovation, Shanghai boasts one of the largest financial markets with the most complete elements, and the capacities of its various innovative financial services are constantly upgraded. The Guidelines on Services and Protection proactively explores new rules and provides new efficiency in emerging fields such as green finance, inclusive finance, and elderly care finance. Through forward-looking analyses of the gaps and controversial points in financial reform and innovation, it provides market entities with clear behavior expectations and rule guidance, fully demonstrating the significance of the rule of law in consolidating the foundation, stabilizing expectations, and benefiting long-term development, which align with the core demands of high-quality financial development.

Feng Xuguang

Member of the CPPCC Shanghai Committee, Director of the Coordination Division under the Office of Shanghai Municipal Financial Commission and the Municipal Financial Work Committee (Municipal Local Financial Administration, Municipal Office of Promoting Shanghai's Development as an International Financial Center)

Shanghai is accelerating its progress toward becoming an international financial center that matches China's comprehensive national strength and international influence. The newly released Guidelines on Services and Protection is a dynamic practice of the Shanghai courts that actively blend in the overall national strategy and serve Shanghai's development as an international financial center with judicial power. The Guidelines on Services and Protection puts forward specific measures in five aspects: serving the real economy, supporting high-level opening up, consolidating market foundation, preventing financial risks, and improving dispute resolution mechanisms. In particular, it innovatively includes such content as enhancing the supply of judicial systems and rule guidance for the development of offshore finance for the first time. Based on the actual situation of the financial justice in Shanghai, the Guidelines is both forward-looking and operable, featuring a high stance, accurate positioning, and practical implementation. We hope that the Shanghai courts will solidly promote the precise implementation of various measures on the basis of the Guidelines, providing more solid and robust judicial protection and a stable predictable institutional environment for accelerating Shanghai's development as an international financial center.