Quick Solution

Arbitration offers faster solution for business dispute, yet more awareness is needed.

- Ester Christine Natalia

A sensible businessperson will always try to avoid disputes by setting out and signing a specific agreement before going ahead with any venture. Nevertheless, disputes still arise. Once these happen, seeking a settlement in court is likely to cost a lot of time and money. Not to mention risking the loss of reputation and investor confidence if the disputes attracts public attention.

Arbitration is a way to solve disputes with a relatively simple and quick process. It is a mechanism for resolving legal disagreements confidentially outside a court setting, based on written agreement between the disputing parties. The verdict from an arbitration process is final and binding, and is usually produced within 180 days. With less time needed to resolve disputes, business players can quickly get back to focusing on their business and moving on, an ideal solution in a fast moving world and a business environment that requires rapid decision making and problem solving.

Arbitration has become favored by multinational companies, with Singapore, the United States and Hong Kong among the leading arbitration centers in the world. In 2018 a total of 265 arbitration requests were registered to the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC). Meanwhile in the US, some 85,300 cases were resolved in the country in 2019, according to the American Arbitration Association.