Finance serves as the lifeblood of the national economy and is a key component of a country¡¯s core competitiveness. Building Shanghai into an international financial center is a strategic mission entrusted by the central government. At the Central Financial Work Conference, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the grand goal of accelerating the building of China into a financial powerhouse; and the 15^th Five-Year Plan explicitly calls for ¡°accelerating the development of Shanghai into an international financial center.¡± How can the judiciary provide high-quality rule of law supply in the financial sector? How can finance advance with high quality within the framework of the rule of law?

In recent years, focusing on its goal of becoming a ¡°specialized, internationalized, and digital¡± world-class financial court, the Shanghai Financial Court (SFC or the ¡°Court¡±) has intensified efforts in developing high-profile cases, persistently advanced the establishment of rules, strengthened institutional innovation, and fully leveraged the demonstrative and market-guiding role of judicial adjudication. On March 31, the SFC held a press conference to release its 2025 Report on the Trial Work of the Shanghai Financial Court (¡°Report¡±) and the top ten financial cases of the year.

Fu Wang, Standing Member of the Adjudication Committee, and Yu Xi, Deputy Chief Judge of the Appeal Review and Judicial Supervision Division, delivered briefings and answered questions from journalists. The press conference was hosted by Li Bei, Director of the General Office and Spokesperson of the SFC. Journalists from the central and Shanghai-based media outlets attended the press conference.

The Report summarizes the cases handled by the SFC in 2025 from three perspectives: case volume, case types, and overall trends. In 2025, the Court accepted a total of 9,485 financial cases, with a total value of claims of 214.063 billion yuan. The number of cases accepted increased by 29.75% year-on-year, reflecting a concurrent rise in financial transaction activity and the effectiveness of judicial services. The types of cases spanned various financial sectors. Among adjudicative cases, liability disputes over false statements in the securities market ranked as the top cause of action by case volume, and together with financial loan contract disputes and financial leasing contract disputes, these three categories accounted for over 50% of all newly filed adjudicative cases; among enforcement cases, cases involving enforcement of arbitral awards numbered 1,456, ranking first in case volume, indicating the growing oversight and support for arbitration by the financial judiciary.

According to the Report, in 2025, the Court accepted 239 cases involving foreign, Hong Kong, Macao, or Taiwan elements, representing a year-on-year increase of 21.94% and the fourth consecutive year of growth. Among these, 139 cases, or 58.16%, involved Belt and Road countries, signaling that Shanghai is gradually becoming a preferred venue for international financial dispute resolution.

The Report outlines the characteristics of the four categories of banking, securities, insurance, and enforcement cases, analyzes the concentrated trends and underlying risks reflected in financial cases and proposes targeted recommendations.

Banking cases accounted for 26.97% of the total, presenting a complex picture in which traditional and emerging risks are intertwined. These cases reflect prominent issues such as disputes arising from digital transformation in the industry, frequent disputes over the validity of corporate guarantees, operational malfeasance among financial asset management companies, and weaker risk control among local financial organizations. It is recommended that financial market participants further adhere to compliance standards and improve governance frameworks. Securities cases accounted for 59.18% of the total, exhibiting an overall trend of ¡°concealed illegal conduct, diversified liable entities, and a multi-dimensional accountability system.¡± Disputes reflect prominent issues such as the rise of new types of securities infringements, increasing demands for look-through recovery in asset management disputes, frequent incidents of financial fraud among listed companies, and the prominent phenomenon of multiple entities being held jointly liable. In this context, it is necessary to further strengthen the integrity foundation of the market, strengthen accountability for fraud by all responsible parties, and improve the multi-dimensional accountability system in the capital market. Insurance cases accounted for 7.54% of the total, revealing a supply-demand imbalance, manifested in insufficient coverage in new business forms and poor coordination in emerging areas. Disputes mainly arose in livelihood-related sectors, such as automobile insurance involving new business forms, commercial insurance for new types of occupational injuries, and health insurance, as well as cross-border cargo insurance in international trade. Recommendations include accelerating efforts to close insurance coverage gaps in new business forms, promoting orderly integration between commercial insurance and social security, and enhancing cross-border insurance service capabilities. With respect to enforcement cases, challenges persist in revitalizing existing assets and in delivering properties after the disposal of real estate, alongside an increase in new types of financial enforcement cases. It is recommended to further deepen the government-court coordination mechanism and establish an efficient governance framework.

As China¡¯s first specialized financial court, the SFC continues to serve as a model and pioneer, focusing on establishing rules and promoting institutional innovation. It has taken a series of measures and achieved relevant outcomes in three major aspects: supporting the broader central mission, upholding the judicial commitment to serving the people, and undertaking the mission of demonstration and leadership. Through these efforts, the Court strives to position Shanghai as a preferred destination for global financial rule of law practices, a preferred venue for financial dispute resolution, and a source of financial rule innovation.

To further demonstrate the guiding and market-oriented role of typical cases, the press conference also released the SFC¡¯s top ten financial cases for 2025. These cases cover a wide range of high-profile legal issues in the financial market, and a number of them were selected as 2025 Top Ten Nominated Cases Advancing the Rule of Law in the New Era and typical financial adjudication cases in the Yangtze River Delta region.

The annual typical cases released reflect three characteristics:

First, more effective support for the development of the real economy. Through measures such as lawfully ensuring and promoting direct financing, strictly penalizing practices that implicitly raise borrowing costs, and improving mechanisms for preservation and enforcement involving enterprises, the SFC helps to enhance the effectiveness of financial services in supporting the real economy. For example, in the case of X Property Insurance Co., Ltd. Shanghai Branch v. Xing over subrogation right, the Court determined that the insurer has the right to seek recovery against a party who abused litigation preservation, guiding preservation applicants to exercise their right reasonably and minimizing the impact on the production and operations of market entities.

Second, more comprehensive support for the opening-up and innovation of the financial industry. The SFC has strengthened the supply of rules in frontier areas of financial opening-up and innovation, ensuring high-quality development of the financial sector within the framework of the rule of law. For instance, in the country¡¯s first case involving a dispute over tort liability brought by a bill holder against an exchange regarding the functional setup of the electronic commercial bill system, the Court clarified that the judiciary should encourage financial infrastructure institutions to continuously optimize system functions and promote the digital transformation of the bill market. In the case of Yang v. Shanghai X Group Co., Ltd. over liability for false statements in securities, the Court established the standards for its jurisdiction and authority in disputes arising from false statements in the overseas issuance and trading of securities by domestic entities, effectively supporting Chinese enterprises in their overseas financing efforts.

Third, more effective prevention and resolution of financial risks. The SFC has prudently concluded a series of major, sensitive, and complex financial cases, strictly preventing risk spillover and firmly holding the line against systemic financial risks. For example, in the country¡¯s first case involving substantive consolidation of an insurance group and its member companies in bankruptcy, considering that capital deployment and transactional relationships within insurance groups tend to facilitate risk diffusion, the Court ultimately issued a ruling for substantive consolidation after comprehensive review, providing judicial support for ¡°precise risk dismantling¡± in the market.

¡°In 2026, the SFC will continue to pursue the goal of building itself into a ¡®specialized, internationalized, and digital¡¯ world-class financial court and leverage its role in financial adjudication. By continuing to play its exemplary and landmark role as China¡¯s first specialized financial court, it will strengthen the competitiveness and influence of Shanghai as an international financial center, and provide solid financial judicial guarantees for a strong start to the 15^th Five-Year Plan,¡± said Mr. Fu.