• Profile
• Experience
• Accolades
• Resources
• Seminars
• Appointments

Acted for the bank in an action against the customers for dishonest assistance in the breach of the fiduciary duties of the bank's employee and on agency principles. The case applied and to some extent extended the principles in the seminal decision of Lord Nicholls in the Privy Council decision of Royal Brunei v Tan. The decision of the trial judge against the bank after some 20 days of trial was reversed by the Court of Appeal on agency principles, despite findings of fact made by the 1st instance judge. Reported in BNP v Nancy Tan & Tan Shee Chin [2000, 2001].

Acted for a major French bank in their claim involving a multicurrency loan for the purpose of margin financing. The case raised questions of the lender's duty to the client in relation to advice on the risks attendant in borrowing of foreign currencies and the bank's duties in general. The first instance judgment in favour of the bank after a 31 day trial was affirmed by the Court of Appeal. Reported in BNP v Wuan Swee May [1996].

Acted for a major Dutch bank (suing in the name of its then customer) in a trial in 1997 against the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ("ICBC") which had defaulted on its payment obligation under a letter of credit. Judgment was given against ICBC, a PRC bank with a branch in Singapore. The issues raised included the relevance of a Chinese Order of Court on the obligations of a PRC bank with a presence in Singapore, the obligations of an issuing bank in a transferable letter of credit, whether fraud on the documents is still a defence when the goods in the underlying contract have been delivered and accepted by the beneficiary of the letter of credit.

Acted for various parties in the Barings' debacle:- a major foreign bank in relation to the recovery of a sum of US$25 million paid under a standby letter of credit in favour of SIMEX and a Japanese subsidiary of a major foreign bank in relation to the recovery of the trust money paid by the client to Baring Futures (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

Acted for the case on performance bonds, reported at Kvaerner Singapore Pte Ltd v UDL Shipbuilding (Singapore) Pte Ltd [1993].