RBS Coutts Bank v Kothari: Summary Judgment & Conclusive Evidence Clauses in Forex Trading Dispute

RBS Coutts Bank Ltd sued Shishir Tarachand Kothari in the High Court of Singapore for USD 569,109 arising from losses in forex transactions. The bank relied on a conclusive evidence clause in its general terms and conditions. Kothari appealed against the Assistant Registrar's decision to grant summary judgment to the bank and dismiss his application to amend his defence. Prakash J. dismissed both appeals, upholding the conclusive evidence clause and finding no triable issues. The Defendant's application to adduce further evidence was also dismissed.

1. Case Overview

1.1 Court

High Court

1.2 Outcome

Appeals dismissed with costs to the Plaintiff.

1.3 Case Type

Civil

1.4 Judgment Type

Grounds of Decision

1.5 Jurisdiction

Singapore

1.6 Description

Appeal against summary judgment for USD 569,109 due to forex trading losses. Court upheld conclusive evidence clause, dismissing appeal.

1.7 Decision Date

2 December 2009

2. Parties and Outcomes

Party Name	Role	Type	Outcome	Outcome Type	Counsels
RBS Coutts Bank Ltd	Plaintiff	Corporation	Judgment for Plaintiff	Won	Hri Kumar Nair of Drew & Napier LLC Benedict Teo Chun-Wei of Drew & Napier LLC
Shishir Tarachand Kothari	Defendant, Appellant	Individual	Appeal Dismissed	Lost	Samuel Chacko of Legis Point LLC Angeline Soh Ean Leng of Legis Point LLC

3. Judges

Judge Name	Title	Delivered Judgment
Judith Prakash	Judge	Yes

4. Counsels

Counsel Name	Organization
Hri Kumar Nair	Drew & Napier LLC
Benedict Teo Chun-Wei	Drew & Napier LLC
Samuel Chacko	Legis Point LLC
Angeline Soh Ean Leng	Legis Point LLC

4. Facts

Defendant opened an account with the Plaintiff for forex trading.
The account was governed by the Plaintiff's General Terms and Conditions and other agreements.
The Defendant engaged in forex transactions from February to November 2007.
The US dollar weakened in late 2007, causing losses in the Defendant's positions.
The Plaintiff closed out the Defendant's positions on 18 March 2008.
A conclusive certificate of indebtedness was issued for USD 569,109.
The Defendant claimed he was not bound by the General Terms and that some transactions were unauthorized.

5. Formal Citations

RBS Coutts Bank Ltd v Shishir Tarachand Kothari, Suit 646/2008, RA 83/2009, 84/2009, [2009] SGHC 273

6. Timeline

Date	Event
2006-08-10	Defendant opened an account with the Plaintiff.
2007-02-01	Defendant engaged in forex transactions.
2007-11-09	Defendant engaged in forex transactions.
2008-01-01	Plaintiff's officers informed the Defendant to inject more funds into the Account.
2008-03-18	Plaintiff closed out the Defendant’s positions in the Forex Transactions.
2008-09-02	Final aggregate sum of USD 569,109 became due and owing by the Defendant to the Plaintiff.
2008-12-17	Plaintiff issued a conclusive certificate of indebtedness.
2009-12-03	Appeals dismissed with costs to the Plaintiff.

7. Legal Issues

Enforceability of Conclusive Evidence Clauses
- Outcome: The court upheld the enforceability of the conclusive evidence clause, finding no fraud or manifest error.
- Category: Substantive
- Sub-Issues:
  - Fraud
  - Manifest error
- Related Cases:
  - [1973] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 437
  - [1989] SLR 1154
  - [2005] 2 SLR 345
Summary Judgment
- Outcome: The court granted summary judgment, finding that the defendant had not demonstrated a fair or reasonable probability of a bona fide defence.
- Category: Procedural
- Related Cases:
  - [1984] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 21
Binding Nature of Contractual Terms
- Outcome: The court held that the defendant was bound by the contractual terms, as he had signed documents referencing those terms.
- Category: Substantive
- Sub-Issues:
  - Incorporation of terms
  - Signature rule
- Related Cases:
  - [2000] 2 SLR 191
  - [1934] 2 K.B. 394
Authority for Forex Transactions
- Outcome: The court found that the defendant had not sufficiently demonstrated that any forex transactions were unauthorized, and that he had failed to dispute the statements in a timely manner.
- Category: Substantive
- Sub-Issues:
  - Unauthorised transactions
  - Disputed statements
- Related Cases:
  - [1992] 2 SLR 828

8. Remedies Sought

Monetary Damages

9. Cause of Actions

Breach of Contract
Debt

10. Practice Areas

Commercial Litigation
Banking Litigation

11. Industries

Banking
Finance

12. Cited Cases

Case Name	Court	Affirmed	Citation	Jurisdiction	Significance
Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas (Suisse) SA v Costa de Naray	Court of Appeal	Yes	[1984] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 21	England	Cited for the principle that a mere assertion in an affidavit is not sufficient to provide leave to defend in summary judgment proceedings; the court must assess whether there is a fair or reasonable probability of a bona fide defence.
Bache & Co (London) Ltd v Banque Vernes et Commercials De Paris SA	N/A	Yes	[1973] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 437	England	Cited for the principle that a certificate issued pursuant to a conclusive evidence clause is determinative of the amount due in the absence of fraud or manifest error.
Bangkok Bank Ltd v Cheng Lip Kwong	N/A	Yes	[1989] SLR 1154	Singapore	Cited for the principle that a certificate issued under a conclusive evidence clause is conclusive of both the liability and the amount of the debt, in the absence of fraud or obvious error.
Standard Chartered Bank v Neocorp International Ltd	N/A	Yes	[2005] 2 SLR 345	Singapore	Cited for the principle that the court can review the legal basis of a claim despite a conclusive evidence certificate, as the efficacy of such a clause is based on contract.
Stephan Machinery Singapore Pte Ltd v Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd	N/A	Yes	[2000] 2 SLR 191	Singapore	Cited for the principle that a party is bound by the terms of a contract they signed, regardless of whether they read the terms.
L’Estrange v. F. Graucob, Limited	Court of Appeal	Yes	[1934] 2 K.B. 394	England	Cited for the signature rule, which states that a party is bound by a document containing contractual terms once they sign it, absent fraud or misrepresentation.
Consmat Singapore (Pte) Ltd v Bank of America National Trust & Savings Association	N/A	Yes	[1992] 2 SLR 828	Singapore	Cited for the principle that a bank's customer is obligated to check monthly bank statements and notify the bank of any discrepancies within a stipulated timeframe.
Lassiter Ann Masters v To Keng Lam (alias Toh Jeanette)	N/A	Yes	[2004] 2 SLR 392	Singapore	Cited for the principle that the High Court has the discretion to decide whether to grant leave to adduce further evidence in Registrar’s Appeals.
WBG Network (S) Pte Ltd v Sunny Daisy Ltd	Court of Appeal	Yes	[2007] 1 SLR 1133	Singapore	Cited for the principle that a judge hearing a Registrar’s Appeal has a wider discretion when the appeal did not arise from a hearing which bore the characteristics of a trial.

13. Applicable Rules

Rule Name
No applicable rules

14. Applicable Statutes

Statute Name	Jurisdiction
No applicable statutes

15. Key Terms and Keywords

15.1 Key Terms

Conclusive evidence clause
Forex transactions
General Terms and Conditions
Summary judgment
Outstanding Sum
Account
Obligations
Facility Agreement
Trading Master Agreement
Closing out

15.2 Keywords

banking
forex
conclusive evidence clause
summary judgment
Singapore
contract law

17. Areas of Law

Area Name	Relevance Score
Banking and Finance	75
Civil Practice	70
Contract Law	60

16. Subjects

Banking
Contract Law
Civil Procedure
Financial Law