Dacheng Attorney Attends NPC Seminar on Futures Legislation

On April 18, National People’s Congress (“NPC”), China’s central legislativebody, convened a seminar in Shanghai to discuss legislation on futures. The seminarwas organized by the Financial and Economic Committee of Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress and China Financial Futures Exchange. Senior partner QuFeng from Dacheng’s Shanghai office was invited to the seminar.

Mr. Qu says more and more institutions participate in China’s futures market and operate on a cross-market and world-wide basis and in a standardized and proprietary-trading-driven manner. In his opinion, the new futures law should addressthe following: first, it should serve both the real economy and the financial market; second, it should strike a balance in terms of profit distributionwithin the industry; third, it should also ensure such reasonabledistribution between institutions and individuals; fourth, the new law should separate and define clearly the roles of government regulators and exchanges; fifth, it should properly address pure plays and homogenous businesses in an era where forms of asset managementare highly diversified; and finally, the roles of People’s Bank of China, China Banking Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission and China Insurance Regulatory Commission should be clearly defined.

Specifically, Qu believes that we should pay close attention to issues such asthe positioning of futures exchanges, the role of intermediaries, investor protection, inter-industry trade and business expansion, internationalization and dispute resolution. In other words, the new law should reflect our wisdom of and commitment to reform, learn from the best practices of international futures markets and our own experience in the past two decades and define rights and obligations of participants in a reasonable manner.

The seminar was attended by: Mr. Yin Zhongqing, member of NPC Standing Committee, vice chief of NPC Financial and Economic Committee and head of an NPC task force on futures legislation; Mr. GuShengzu, member of NPC Standing Committee and vice chief of NPC Financial and Economic Committee; Mr. Jiang Yang, vice chief of China Securities Regulatory Commission; Mr. Ma Xinsheng, vice chief of the Financial and Economic Committee of Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress; Mr. Li Xunlei, member of the Financial and Economic Committee of Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress; Mr. Zhang Shenfeng, chairman of China Financial Futures Exchange.

There were also representatives from the futures industry,  including: Mr. ZhaiZengjun, chairman of BOC International Futures Limited; Mr. Lin Xun, chief risk officer of BOC International Futures Limited; Ms. Yang Lei, chief risk officer of GuotaiJun’an Futures Co., Ltd.; Mr. Yang Xidong, general manager of Xinhu Futures; Mr. GaoJie, general manager of SDIC CGOC Futures Co., Ltd.; Ms. Yang Qian, vice-general manager of Haitong Futures Co., Ltd.; Mr. Cheng Shandong, deputy chief of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Shanghai branch; and Mr. Zhang Xianfeng, head of Financial Institutions Department of SPD Bank.