Interest in International Arbitration
Oxford International Arbitration Series

Interest plays a vital and increasing role in international arbitration proceedings, with almost every case having an element of interest involved. However, until now, the topic has received very little attention, meaning that arbitrators have had very little concrete foundation on which to judge decisions on interest awards. This book is the first authoritative guidance to address this, providing a uniform approach to the awarding of interest in international arbitration. Interest in International Arbitration aligns arbitrators' decisions with standard commercial practice, offering a practical and logical approach to how interest should be awarded. It sets out traditional approaches that arbitrators have followed in the past, such as using conflict of law to apply a statutory rate from a given law, or awarding instead a subjectively 'reasonable' rate, and examines how these inconsistent approaches have resulted in a variety of awards and decisions. The author uses this analysis as a basis for a uniform approach to the issue: granting compound interest at appropriate rates unless constrained by truly mandatory law. The author sets out the calculation method, explores the benefits and limitations, and presents a thorough argument for the movement toward a uniform approach to interest awards.

Dr. Matthew Secomb is a partner in White & Case's International Arbitration Group in Singapore. He is also Co-Head of the Asia-Pacific International Arbitration practice. He has acted as counsel in over forty international arbitrations under various rules (ICC, SCC, UNCITRAL, LCIA, ICSID etc). He also acts regularly as arbitrator. Dr. Secomb is an Associate Adjunct Professor in Energy Arbitration at the National University of Singapore and lectures in International Arbitration at Queen's University, Ontario. He is well-published, having authored numerous articles and five book chapters on arbitration and related topics.