Third Party Funding and Conflicts of Interest: Is there any way to ‘Tame the Beast’?

Abstract

The third-party funding (TPF) market has been growing rapidly in the last few years, especially in the international arbitration field. The benefits along with the potential risks TPF could bear have received a lot of attention. Accordingly, the industry’s appetite for TPF has grown exponentially in short timeframe. Since 2012, this industry has increased by over 500%, with a significant increase of TPF financial support occurring the Arbitration system and the rising number of active funders looking for viable opportunities.Considering that “precious little is stated with regards to disclosure”, it has been assessed whether disclosure should be mandatory in order to avoid the possible existence of conflicts of interest between an arbitrator and the funder. This is of particular relevance when it is considered that arbitral institutions establish and ensure that an arbitrator’s independence and impartiality are a must3, yet the arbitral institutions little say regarding the TPF agreements and their impact on arbitrator’s impartiality or independence should a conflict arises.