City courts hearing fewer financial cases
The number of financial and commercial cases heard by Shanghai courts last year decreased significantly, with 179,258 cases of first instance heard, a year-on-year decrease of 6.91 percent, according to a white paper released by the Shanghai People's Higher Court on Monday.
The main reason was a sharp decline in the number of bank card disputes. The number of other financial and commercial cases increased by 49.94 percent year-on-year, among which financial loan contract disputes and financial leasing contract disputes both increased by more than 50 percent.
The total amount of the first instance financial and commercial cases heard last year was 180.604 billion yuan (US$28.35 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 18.58 percent. The top three types of cases were disputes over loans, leases and bank cards.
These three, with securities misrepresentation liability and property insurance contract disputes, accounted for 96.12 percent of the total number of financial and commercial cases.
The white paper said the function of trials to support and regulate financial innovation activities had been improved amid the emergence of new types of financial and commercial cases.
Continuous changes in financing channels and structures had led to new, difficult and complex problems, especially in financing methods such as leasing, factoring, trust and bonds, which play an increasingly important role and cause a large number of disputes.
It also said that disputes in financial technology and inclusive finance had become increasingly prominent. With the development of financial technology, cross-regional operations had become the norm, and the participants in financial activities were increasing, which also led to the increasing number of disputes.
The increase in foreign-related factors in financial cases also posed a higher requirement for the application of international rules and practices.
With the increasingly consolidated status of Shanghai as an international financial center and the increasing strength of financial opening to the outside world, cross-border capital flow and financial services had become increasingly active, and foreign-related financial disputes had gradually increased.
The white paper said that scientific and technological development, such as artificial intelligence, big data and blockchain, had provided new development momentum for the trial work of the court.
