Generally termed as ‘corporate compliance’, a notable legal reform initiative has in recent years been rolled out across China to introduce the notion of non-prosecution or deferred prosecution conditioned on the culprit firms making satisfactory improvements on their internal control and compliance. Drawing upon a unique hand-collected dataset of Chinese court judgments, as well as qualitative data, this talk presents a perspective on how the implementation of the reform initiative highlights opportunities and challenges in future legal developments in the Greater Bay Area.

About the Speaker:

Chao XI is Professor and Outstanding Fellow of the Faculty of Law at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he concurrently serves as Associate Dean (Research) and Head of Graduate Division of Law. He also directs the Chinese Law Program of the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at CUHK.

Professor Xi specialises in comparative corporate law, securities regulation, financial regulation, and empirical legal studies, with a particular focus on the case of China. He has published extensively in leading peer-reviewed international journals, including the Banking and Finance Law Review, European Business Organization Law Review, Journal of Business Law, Journal of Contract Law, and Journal of Corporate Finance. His research has received significant funding support from the Hong Kong SAR Government Research Grants Council, the PRC Ministry of Education, the Government of India, and the Sumitomo Foundation. He has been appointed by the Hong Kong SAR Government to serve on the Assessment Panel of its Public Policy Research (PPR) and Strategic Public Policy Research (SPPR) Funding Schemes.

Professor Xi holds visiting positions at various leading overseas institutions. He serves on the editorial boards of a number of international peer-reviewed journals, including The China Review (SSCI-indexed), the Hong Kong Law (SSCI-indexed), and the Journal of Banking and Finance Law and Practice (Thomas Reuters). Professor Xi is also a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), UK, and is on the panels of arbitrators in several arbitration institutions. He has regularly been engaged by law firms, multinationals, and government departments and agencies as an expert.

*The Law Society of Hong Kong has awarded this seminar 1 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) point.