Derains & Gharavi has extensive experience in the Banking, Finance and Insurance industries, having been entrusted by many large banking/financing and insurance institutions (including central banks such as the Central Bank of Iran) with counsel mandates, or appointed as arbitrator in, commercial arbitrations related to all types of financing/debt agreements and to insurance and reinsurance agreements as well as investment arbitrations arising out of State regulatory actions in the banking, finance, insurance, and corresponding sanctions’ sectors.
The below non-exhaustive examples demonstrate the firm’s extensive experience in this sector (For full list see the CVs of Yves Derains and Hamid Gharavi):
- Successfully represented as lead counsel two Iranian banks, Bank Saderat and Bank Melli, against the Kingdom of Bahrain in an UNCITRAL arbitration initiated under a bilateral investment treaty in relation to their investment in a Bahraini bank that led to a EUR 200 million favorable award and finding of political expropriation (PCA Case No. 2017-25).
- Successfully represented as lead counsel Romania in an ICSID arbitration initiated by a Dutch investor in relation to the alleged expropriation of its investments in the insurance and media sectors that led to the dismissal of all claims on the merits via an award dated June 13, 2024 (ICSID Case No. ARB/16/19);
- Successfully represented as lead counsel a French bank against another French bank and a number of French individuals before the Paris Court of Appeal in annulments proceedings of an ad hoc award;
- Currently representing as the lead counsel the Central Bank of Iran in its disputes with the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Republic of Korea in relation to the blocking of its deposits in each of these states on purported sanction grounds;
- Representing as lead counsel French insurance company against an American insurance company in a CEFAREA arbitration for fraudulent misrepresentation in the transfer of a reinsurance contract in gap financing;
- President of the Tribunal in an ad hoc arbitration under Swiss law and Equity between Swiss individuals in relation to the alleged breach of a partnership agreement of a leading Swiss bank [Hamid Gharavi];
- President of the Tribunal in an ICC arbitration between Peruvian insurance companies and a German company in relation to an accident at a power plant (ICC Case No. 25161/IPA) [Yves Derains];
- President of the Tribunal in an ICC arbitration between a French bank and a Mexican company in relation to the enforcement of a credit facility (ICC Case No. 20031/FMS) [Yves Derains];
- Sole Arbitrator in an ICC arbitration under Swiss law between an individual and a group of companies who own and operate one of the largest and most important cryptocurrencies and online platform, regarding the trade of cryptocurrency on the platform and an alleged violation of the terms of use (ICC Case No. 26306/PAR) [Hamid Gharavi];
- Sole Arbitrator in an LCIA arbitration under New York Law between a North American company and a European bank in relation to the alleged breach of a financial agreement (LCIA Case No. 91445) [Hamid Gharavi]; and
- Sole Arbitrator in an ICC arbitration between a Spanish company and a Honduran company in relation to the alleged breach of a loan agreement (ICC Case No. 17919/JRF/CA) [Bertrand Derains].