On 26 November 2018, CIETAC Jiangsu Arbitration Center, Nanjing Financial Development Office, and King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) jointly held the “The Listed Company's Financial Risk Resolution and Dispute Resolution Summit” in Nanjing. In response to the current disputes in shares pledge and private placement in the financing areas, the summit invited relevant experts to conduct detailed analysis and in-depth discussion of recent typical cases. Gu Yan, Vice President of the Arbitration Court of CIETAC and Secretary General of CIETAC Jiangsu Arbitration Center, Liu Yonghui, Deputy Director of Nanjing Financial Development Office, and Zhang Mingyuan, Head of KWM Nanjing Office, addressed the summit.

In his speech, Gu Yan introduced that the number of arbitration cases accepted by CIETAC in recent years has increased year by year. The amount of disputes reached RMB 71.9 billion last year, which is the first time in history that it has exceeded 10 billion US dollars. Among them, the number and the amount of financial cases are gradually increasing, and the types of financial cases also show a diversified trend. Gu Yan also mentioned that lawyers have an irreplaceable role in dispute resolution. Good communication and cooperation between lawyers and arbitration institutions can resolve procedural conflicts and handle disputes efficiently and properly.

Liu Yonghui said in his speech that Nanjing Municipal Communist Party Committee and Municipal People’s Government attach great importance to the service and risk mitigation for listed companies, especially for privately-run listed companies. The Municipal Financial Office has sorted out the risks of all domestically listed companies in the city and has taken the lead with relevant departments and agencies to communicate with a number of listed companies and their major shareholders, in particular those with high shares pledge and limited cash flow, so that the government could coordinate and provide flexibility.

In his speech, Zhang Mingyuan said that Nanjing Office, as an integral part of KWM, focuses its business on capital markets, financial compliance and dispute resolution. With the help of KWM's management system, overall resources in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta, Nanjing Office will serve customers in Nanjing and neighboring areas to contribute to the local economic development.

The summit is divided into keynote speech session and panel discussion session. In the keynote speech section, Ms. Tian Yusu, Case Manager of CIETAC analyzed three typical financial cases accepted by CIETAC. Wang Yang, Director of Legal Affair Department of CCPIT Jiangsu Sub-Council, made a comment. Wang Nannan and Lei Jiping, Partners of KWM, gave speeches on legal analysis of listed companies’ shares pledge and the proper response to the disputes arising out of capital guarantee in the private placement of listed companies. Feng Bin, General Manager of Sumec Capital, Guo Fuyan, Partner of Ernst & Young, Zhang Lei, General Manager of Huatai Securities Investment Banking Department, and Zhang Linsheng, Partner of ADDOR, made comments separately. There were lively discussions on financial risks.

Over 120 participants from relevant financial and legal industry, listed companies, financial institutions and investment management companies from Shanghai, Suzhou and Nanjing attended the summit.