Press Release

On February 26, 2024, the Securities Association of China ("SAC") announced its "Evaluation Results of 2023 Excellent Key Task Research Reports". The report highlights three projects in which Han Kun participated were graded as "excellent": Research on Legal Issues, Risks and Prevention Concerning the Private Fund Custody Business of Securities Companies, jointly submitted by Han Kun's Beijing office; Research on the Scope of Performing Duties and Legal Risks Prevention of Corporate Bond Trustees, jointly submitted by Han Kun's Shanghai office; and Research on Practical Difficulties and Risk Prevention in Valuation of Asset Management Products in the Context of Net Worth Management, co-authored by Han Kun partner Ms. Zhihan Zhao.

Last year was the fiercest year of competition for the establishment and selection of SAC's key projects. The Association received 671 applications in total, and after screening and appraisal, 180 subjects were approved to be established. 56 subjects were graded "excellent" after evaluation by academic, regulatory, and industry experts. Han Kun was the only law firm with two or more of its projects graded "excellent".

The Research on Legal Issues, Risks and Prevention Concerning the Private Fund Custody Business of Securities Companies, jointly submitted by Han Kun's Beijing office, provides in-depth research on the legal issues, risks, and effective prevention of the private fund custody business of securities companies. The research team systematically sorted out the relevant laws, regulations and regulatory rules, public adjudicative documents and cases of regulatory punishment with regard to securities companies acting as private equity fund trustees, and conducted field research on major domestic arbitration institutions and head institutions being engaged in private equity fund custody business. This research puts forward specific and feasible suggestions on risk prevention and system development, to help the long-term healthy development of the private equity fund industry based on the in-depth and systematic study of cutting edge legal issues, including the specific duties of the custodian in the different operation stages (financing, investing, management and exit) of private equity funds, the boundary of a custodian's duty to perform, the reasonable structure of custodian civil liability, etc., and combining practical needs and difficulties.

The report, Research on the Scope of Performing Duties and Legal Risks Prevention of Corporate Bond Trustees, jointly submitted by Han Kun's Shanghai office, based on the legal basis of China's bond trustee system, as well as our research on numerous head brokers and arbitration institutions, clarifies the differences between bond trustees and underwriters in terms of scope of duties, legal basis and nature of liabilities, and provides suggestions for the establishment of a mechanism to prevent conflicts of interest when the two subjects overlap. At the same time, the thesis discusses the main duties, the boundary of duty performance, the dilemma of duty performance, and the civil liability when duty performance is flawed. This report, based on the experience from the overseas bond trustee system and the practice in our country's market, proposes feasible suggestions on improving our country's bond trustee system and preventing the trustees from performing their duties, with a view to balancing the interests among the main players in the bond market and promoting the prosperous development of the bond market.

The report, Research on Practical Difficulties and Risk Prevention in Valuation of Asset Management Products in the Context of Net Worth Management, co-authored by Ms. Zhihan Zhao, a partner in Han Kun's Beijing office, focuses on one of the most cutting-edge and far-reaching influential topics in the asset management industry and analyzes the potential risks triggered by "difficult valuations" and formulating a systematic research report. As one of the members of the task group, Ms. Zhao has long been engaged in financial asset management dispute resolution services and possesses extensive practical experience and capabilities combined with industry and research experience, and is able to provide professional and efficient legal service to clients.

Han Kun Law Offices adheres to research, development, and innovation in financial services and its dispute resolution, remain up-to-date on industry practice and judicial ruling, and actively participate in major subject research. The project teams worked diligently for a long time, with a solid theoretical foundation and rich experience. The three key research projects of the Securities Association of China that Han Kun team participated in were all graded "excellent", reflecting Han Kun's overall professional depth, practice level and research capability in these areas.