England: financial disputes worth more than £50m to have separate court

Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, said the specialist financial court would seal London’s reputation as the centre of international litigation.

In an address to the Lord Mayor’s dinner for judges at Mansion House in London he said: “The new list will not only encourage international litigants to continue to use our courts, the principles they embody and their jurisprudence, but in doing so they will help to raise standards.”

“The existence and accessibility of judicial institutions is an essential means of securing the growth of efficient economic markets to serve the public good.”

He also added his support to calls from Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England to bring an end to the culture of criminal impunity in the financial markets.

Lord Thomas said: “But in addition it is of the greatest importance that the perception of impunity is removed by more effective and speedy trials.”

He noted too that resources were needed for prosecuting serious financial crime, with the Lord Chancellor Michael Gove among the guests.