News & Insights

We are proud to share that Shook Lin & Bok LLP has been named “In-House Community Firm of the Year 2024 – Singapore” across multiple categories:

Parliament passed the Food Safety and Security Act on 8 January 2025. The Act is designed to consolidate and enhance existing food-related laws to address the evolving challenges of Singapore’s food sector. The implementation of the Act will occur in phases, commencing in the second half of 2025 and concluding by 2028, allowing stakeholders adequate time to adapt to the new regulatory framework.

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We are pleased to announce that our partners have been recognised as one of the world’s leading practitioners in the Lexology Index (formerly Who’s Who Legal) 2025 report:

The EU Green Bond Regulation[1] entered into force on 20 December 2023 and came into effect on 21 December 2024. It sets a standard for EU Green Bonds that issuers can choose to adopt when labelling their bonds to raise finance for environmentally sustainable projects. One of the requirements for the voluntary ‘gold’ standard is […]

On 13 January 2025, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”) published its response to feedback received on its proposed notice on the prevention of money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (“AML/CFT”) requirements for approved exchanges and recognised market operators formed or incorporated in Singapore (collectively referred to as “Singapore organised market operators”).

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Our firm continues to be recognised as a leading firm across multiple practice areas in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2025.

Where a bank finances an international sale of goods, original bills of lading (“OBLs”) are amongst the documents that will be presented by a seller to the bank to obtain payment for the goods. The OBLs are held by the bank as security for the financing extended to the buyer. If the cargo is discharged by the carrier without presentation of the OBLs, the bank has a claim in misdelivery against the carrier.

One of the defences raised against a misdelivery claim is that the bank would have consented to the cargo being discharged from the carrier without presentation of the OBLs in any event. As such, it is argued, the bank is not entitled to the damages sought as the carrier’s breach of the contract of carriage did not cause the loss allegedly suffered by the bank. Such a defence was successfully established in Unicredit Bank AG v Euronav NV [2022] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 467, where the English High Court rejected the plaintiff bank’s misdelivery claim. The decision was affirmed on appeal.

In the recent case of The Maersk Katalin [2024] SGHC 282, the same defence was considered by the Singapore High Court, but the carrier in that case failed to succeed in this defence. Nevertheless, the case serves as a reminder that a bank’s security over the cargo (by virtue of being holder of the OBLs) would be compromised if the carrier is able to prove that the bank would have counterfactually consented to the discharge of the cargo without presentation of the OBLs.

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The Court of Appeal ruled that assignments may be ineffective for offending public policy. Additionally, an assignment of a bare right to sue must not prejudice the administration of justice. Generally, non-assignment clauses would also prohibit the assignment of contractual and related rights.

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Shook Lin & Bok LLP is pleased to announce the admission of five new Partners, with effect from 1 January 2025.