The enforcement regime of securities law in China used to adopt a public-centric regime, where private litigations are conditioned on public administrative sanctions. It is hence criticized that the securities law is under-enforced, and investors are poorly protected. The landscape changed after 2019, when the Securities Law underwent a significant revision. It officially creates a mixed enforcement regime. Investors could bring civil litigations without first satisfying the administrative prerequisites. However, due to path-dependence, the public enforcement outcomes have got a significant influence over the private litigations, because it could be used as strong evidence to prove the existence of misconducts and materiality. Using a text-mining algorithm with key words “misrepresentation” and “litigation”, we were able to identify close to 200 companies being suited by harmed investors against informational misconducts. With this proprietary sample, we are able to provide empirical evidence of the key features of the private litigation outcomes and the interactions between public and private enforcement proceedings.

Wenming Xu is the Professor of Empirical Law and Finance and Associate Dean of School of Law and Economics at China University of Political Science and Law. At the same time, he has served as the co-editor for International Review of Law and Economics since 2023. Wenming obtained his Ph.D. in Law and Economics from the Faculty of Law at University of Bologna in Italy, and has visited the University of Oxford, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, University of Chicago, Northwestern University and National University of Singapore. His scholarship mainly focuses on empirical legal studies, securities law and regulations, and corporate governance. Wenming has an extensive publication in both international and Chinese journals, including European Business Organization Law Review, European Journal of Law and Economics, International Review of Law and Economics, and Economics of Governance, etc.

Time & Location

8 May 2024 | 6:00–7:30 p.m.

In-person & online
Henry Ford Building | Garystr. 35 | Konferenzraum II
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