A new specialist list hosted by the Rolls Building to deal with complex financial markets cases will be established later this year, the Gazette has learned.

The ‘financial list’ would provide a specialist dispute resolution forum in the face of competition from centres such as Dubai and Singapore.

Eligible cases would include claims for more than £50m relating to derivatives and complex financial products, private equity deals, hedge fund disputes and sovereign debt.

Cases will be allocated to a ‘docketed’ judge – selected from a pool of ‘financial list’ judges. The judge would preside over case management decisions from the commencement of proceedings to the final trial and through to enforcement if necessary.

The proposal was put out for consultation by the chancellor of the High Court earlier this year. The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary said responses, which are understood to be  supportive, will be analysed over the next few weeks. A spokesperson said there were a ‘number of legislative and practical steps that need to be gone through in the upcoming months before the Financial List can be fully operational’.

The City of London Law Society was among those backing the creation of a specialist list, saying ‘it is important for the English courts to improve, and be seen to improve, the service they provide to international litigants rather than merely to rest on the courts’ historic laurels’.