Arbitrating financial disputes—are they different and what lies ahead?

The subject of this article is arbitrating financial disputes that arise from financings and financial products, usually in the international context, and typically of higher value. The article looks at how the subject has developed in China’s financial markets, as well as those of the West. It concludes that some financial disputes do have different characteristics from other commercial disputes, depending on the type of dispute in question. Though financial transactions often provide for the courts to have jurisdiction, particularly the courts of major financial centres, arbitration is in fact also widely used in financial disputes. An important consideration for financial institutions is the recent and widespread introduction of rules as to ‘early determination’ by many arbitral institutions. A potentiality of these is to make arbitration more ‘finance friendly’ for financial institutions, and their counterparties, but there remains a reluctance on the part of tribunals to use them. Some of the principal components of the practical application of ‘early determination’ provisions are clarified in the article. Finally, some views are offered on what may lie ahead for the arbitration of financial disputes, particularly in the field of technology and green finance.