The expansion of Singapore as a centre for resolving international commercial disputes is a credible threat to the London Commercial Court’s pre-eminence, leading litigators have warned.

Singapore’s international arbitration centre (SIAC) has witnessed rapid growth, with the number of cases increasing by 300% in a decade. A commercial mediation centre will open in November and a new commercial court is set to open within months.

The court was designed by some of the UK’s leading commercial litigators, including former attorney general Lord Goldsmith QC and Joe Smouha QC. Their recommendations will have taken little over a year from government adoption to completion.

Tony Guise, chair of the Commercial Litigation Association, told the Gazette there was a ‘real danger’ Singapore ‘will steal a march’ on London.