Our story
P.R.I.M.E. Finance stands for the Panel of Recognised International Market Experts in Finance, an innovative collaboration launched in January 2012.
P.R.I.M.E. Finance was established to help resolve, and to assist judicial systems in the resolution of, disputes concerning complex financial products. P.R.I.M.E. Finance has the support of key international regulatory bodies and is complementary to their efforts to promote a stable international financial system.
The P.R.I.M.E. Finance Foundation, an independent, not-for-profit organisation based in The Hague, oversees and supports the global role played by the Panel of Experts.
Click here for Mission and Activities.
Background
In 2010, Lord Woolf of Barnes, former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, and Professor Jeffrey Golden, former senior partner in Allen & Overy LLP’s global derivatives practice, began to consider the need for an independent tribunal and educational resource dedicated to complex financial transactions.
A roundtable in The Hague took place in 2010, convening finance experts including lawyers, judges, market practitioners, regulators, central bank officials, and founders of the derivatives and structured finance industries This roundtable was followed by a series of meetings with lenders, dealer and buy-side market participants, jurists and financial market regulators in global financial centres including Dubai, Moscow, London, New York, Frankfurt, Paris and Dublin.
Consensus was overwhelming: The Panel of Recognised International Market Experts in Finance (P.R.I.M.E. Finance) was the overdue answer to a vital market need and an important complement to global efforts at regulatory reform. With generous support from the Dutch government and the City of The Hague, P.R.I.M.E. Finance was established in 2012.
Our Experts
P.R.I.M.E. Finance’s great strength lies in the knowledge and experience of the legal and market experts in its ranks, an offering which currently includes around 300 of the most prominent individuals from the world of finance and financial markets law. Our Panel is unique in bringing together independent and multi-jurisdictional expertise in relation to complex financial transactions. Click here to find out more about our Experts, and to access a full list.
Governance Structure
The P.R.I.M.E. Finance Foundation’s Advisory Board is chaired by Jeffrey Golden KC (Hon), Founder and Chair Emeritus of P.R.I.M.E. Finance and former founding partner of Allen & Overy LLP’s US Practice. The Management Board is chaired by Robert G. Pickel, Affiliate, Rutter Associates LLC (New York) and former Chief Executive Officer, Executive Vice Chairman and General Counsel, ISDA.
Click here to find out more about the Management and Advisory Boards and the Secretariat.
Cooperation with Permanent Court of Arbitration
The PCA is the world’s oldest arbitral institution, with over a century of experience in administering complex international proceedings. P.R.I.M.E. Finance joined forces with the PCA in 2015, thereby combining the subject matter expertise of its Panel of Experts with the PCA’s efficiency in administering arbitrations. As a result, arbitrations and mediations under the P.R.I.M.E. Finance Arbitration and Mediation Rules are administered by the PCA, and parties have access to an efficient arbitration and mediation mechanism to resolve their disputes. While the filing address for notices of arbitration and mediation is with the PCA at its Peace Palace headquarters in The Hague, arbitrations may take place anywhere in the world, and may be facilitated by the PCA’s host country agreements with a number of its Contracting Parties.
The Secretary-General acts as appointing authority for P.R.I.M.E. Finance in cases where the parties cannot agree on the appointment of arbitrators, and also serves on the P.R.I.M.E. Finance Advisory Board.
NIAS/Woolf Fellowship
From 2012 to 2019, P.R.I.M.E. Finance and The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (“NIAS”) established a P.R.I.M.E. Finance Fellowship Program, named in honour of the Rt. Hon. Lord Woolf of Barnes, P.R.I.M.E. Finance’s first Advisory Board Chairman. Six P.R.I.M.E. Finance Experts, have the honour of calling themselves Woolf Fellows. For more information, see here.