Cross-border insolvency and arbitration

Commercial parties often expect to decide on the dispute resolution
mechanism in which any disputes between them ought to be resolved
in advance by making appropriate contractual or other arrangements.
However, internationally, it is uncertain how such provisions interact
with court-supervised insolvency processes, such as en désastre
proceedings locally. In any insolvency, a creditor seeking the
recognition of the debt they are owed is vulnerable to arguments that
the debt is genuinely disputed. Where those debts are disputed, some
jurisdictions show greater deference than others to the existence of
arbitration clauses in staying winding-up petitions (or their
equivalents) so that the dispute can first be arbitrated. The decision of
the Singaporean Court of Appeal in AnAn v VTB is the latest
installment in these international judicial conversations, drawing upon
pan-Commonwealth authorities. It is hoped that these reflections
might be of relevance when, inevitably, similar issues arise in Jersey
and Guernsey.