BEIJING - China is looking into establishing a Chengdu-Chongqing financial court in a bid to step up judicial protection of the financial sector and serve the development of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle.

A draft decision on the establishment of the court was submitted on Sunday to an ongoing session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

According to the draft, the court would have jurisdiction commensurate with an intermediate people's court in hearing finance-related civil, commercial and administrative lawsuits in Chongqing and parts of Sichuan province that belong to the economic circle.

The appeal cases filed against the judgment or ruling of first instance made by the Chengdu-Chongqing financial court shall be tried by the Chongqing Higher People's Court, said the draft.

Covering about 185,000 square km, the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle takes up 1.9 percent of the country's total land territory. In 2019, the economic circle had a permanent population of around 96 million.