China’s second largest insurer, Ping An, has filed an international arbitration claim against Belgium in an attempt to recoup its losses from its investment in the now defunct financial services group, Fortis. It is the first claim made by a mainland Chinese company to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). As Andy Moody, partner at international law firm Eversheds, comments:
“The losses Ping An Insurance Group suffered as a result of the collapse of the Dutch-Belgian group Fortis are well known. Ping An was extremely unhappy in 2008 when the governments in Belgium and Luxembourg took control of Fortis’ operations in those countries and then sold them to BNP Paribas as Ping An suffered a large paper loss. At the time, Ping An threatened to commence ICSID arbitration proceedings and the arbitration community has been waiting ever since to see if Ping An would carry out its threat. This case may turn out to be the first of many future claims commenced by Chinese investors as they increasingly make investments outside China and recognise that they may try to use bilateral investment treaties to help protect those investments against government interference or expropriation.”
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