Financial stability

Investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) is one of the greatest threats to the re-regulation of finance. ISDS empowers the very firms that financial regulation seeks to govern. These firms can bypass host country domestic courts and directly challenge domestic policies in a parallel system of justice.

Financial and non-financial firms have increasingly used ISDS provisions in trade agreements to challenge financial regulations and emergency financial stability measures.

Most well-known cases include:

• Investors vs. Argentina: When the country froze its utility rates and devaluated its currency in response to its 2001-2002 financial crisis, it was hit by over 40 lawsuits from investors, including Suez, Vivendi (France) and Anglian Water (UK). By January 2014, Argentina had been ordered to pay a total of US$980 million (various BITs invoked).

• Poštová Banka (Slovakia) & Istrokapital (Cyprus) vs. Greece: the Slovak bank and its Cypriot investor sued Greece on account of the restructuring of the country’s sovereign debt, after having bought Greek government bonds at a knockdown value. The investors lost the case. (Greece-Slovakia & Cyprus-Greece BITs invoked).

• Saluka (Netherlands) vs. Czech Republic: the Dutch investment corporation filed an ISDS dispute against the Czech government for not bailing out a private bank, in which the company had a stake, in the same way that the government bailed out banks in which the government had a major stake. The bailouts came in response to a widespread bank debt crisis. The investor was awarded US$236 million (Czech Republic-Netherlands BIT invoked).

Photo: Maalokki / CC BY 2.0

(March 2020)

UNIAN | 17-Sep-2019
PrivatBank commenced the arbitration on April 13, 2015, for breaches of the Russian Federation’s obligations towards PrivatBank’s assets in Crimea.
Outlook India | 10-Sep-2019
UK’s Cairn Energy on Tuesday said the arbitration process against India on imposition of retrospective tax demand is likely to be protracted and a decision is not expected before late 2019.
Kapitalis | 6-Sep-2019
Le fonds d’investissement ABCI Investment, basé aux Pays-Bas, a fait effectuer une saisie sur un avoir de l’Etat tunisien, à savoir TF Bank, l’établissement bancaire tunisien basé à Paris, en France.
Reuters | 16-Aug-2019
Anglo-Russian businessman Grigoriy Guselnikov, the bank’s former owner who sold his shares, has brought a request for international arbitration against Latvia.
The Investor | 8-Jul-2019
South Korea’s financial regulator said it will launch a task force later this month to handle lawsuits filed by global investors, such as US private equity fund Lone Star.
IISD | 28-Jun-2019
Dans sa décision finale du 28 septembre 2017, un tribunal de la CCS ordonnait à la Pologne de verser 176 millions EUR à une société d’investissement privée basée au Luxembourg.
Russian Fund for the Protection of Investors’ Rights in Foreign States | 14-May-2019
The Fund for Protection of Investors’ Rights in Foreign States sent an notice of arbitration against Lithuania for the illegal expropriation of the Bank “Snoras”, in accordance with the investment agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Lithuania.
Nepali Times | 7-May-2019
Axiata UK may be required to exhaust local remedies before resorting to arbitration under the UK-Nepal investment treaty
Mobile World Live | 29-Apr-2019
Axiata Group’s UK subsidiary and Nepal mobile unit filed a request for arbitration with the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, regarding a capital gains tax bill levied by Nepali authorities.
Reuters | 19-Apr-2019
Oman’s sovereign wealth fund has withdrawn an 80 million euro claim against Bulgaria over the collapse of Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank), the Bulgarian finance ministry said.