Singapore Court: Arbitration Clause Designating Wrong Institution Incapable Of Being Performed

In a rare decision, the Singapore High Court in TMT v The Royal Bank of Scotland [2017] SGHC 21 has ruled that an arbitration clause did not meet the prima facie standard for a stay of court proceedings because it designated the wrong arbitral institution.

Background

TMT Co., Ltd ("TMT"), a Liberian ship-owning company, opened a trading account with the Royal Bank of Scotland plc ("RBS") in 2007. In 2010, TMT commenced proceedings against RBS in the English Commercial Court for breach of the trading account agreement (the "Trading Agreement") negligence, breach of statutory duty concerning risk management and other obligations and negligent misrepresentation as to the margin requirements of the trading accounts. In May of 2012, the parties entered into a settlement agreement to settle the English proceedings (the "Settlement Agreement").