News
2000

Arbitration in the financial services sector

Arbitration, Finance and Insurance, the title of this year's Special Supplement to the ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin, reflects not only the growing alliance between finance and insurance but also the increasing role arbitration is playing in this sector of the economy.

Although in insurance and particularly reinsurance disputes, use of arbitration is and has been common, banks have been more reticent. Things are changing, however, and developments in financial services are opening doors to out-of-court methods of dispute resolution.

The articles published in Arbitration, Finance and Insurance reflect these chan ges and discuss issues relating to the role of arbitration and expertise in resolving financial and insurance disputes.

The collection covers both common law and civil law traditions and the authors speak from direct practical experience.

William W. Park overviews financial arbitration, looking at its appropriateness and offering discerning and practical advice on its implementation.

Christophe Dugu looks at the role of arbitration in international financing transactions as a means of controlling and reducing the risks such complex transactions entail.

An article by Laurent Jaeger and Delphine Dupuis deals with the topical subject of arbitration in stock market disputes, which has its specific problems to which distinctive and original solutions are being found.

Moving onto insurance, the Special Supplement contains two contrasting articles. From a French perspective, Jean Bigot discusses the legal issues and relationships arising from the presence of an arbitration clause in an insurance policy or, alternatively, in a commercial contract to which the insurer is a third party. Ian Hunter offers the fruits of his rich experience as an arbitrator in insurance disputes in London in an article of much practical interest.

Practitioners will also draw benefit from Borham Atallah's overview of the policies and principles of export credit insurance. He unveils the mechanics of export credit insurance so as to help understanding of this complex and risky growth area.

Finally, Gary Collyer reviews three years' experience of ICC's own Docdex system for expert-based resolution of documentary credit disputes. He writes from direct experience, as Technical Adviser to ICC's Banking Commission, and concludes that Docdex offers a less costly and more appropriate means of resolving such disputes than court litigation.

Arbitration, Finance and Insurance, ICC Publication No. 627, is distributed as part of the 2000 subscription to the ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin.