Keynote Address by Mr Murali Pillai SC, Minister of State for Law and Transport, at the Singapore Insolvency Conference 2024
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
A. Introduction
1. It is my honour to be the Keynote speaker at the 2024 edition of the Singapore Insolvency Conference.
2. I know quite a number of you and have worked with a good number of you, and I really appreciate this opportunity to reconnect with you on this occasion.
3. All of us here have experienced changes to our practice, industries and markets – some rapid, others gradual. Globalisation has also meant that we are frequently affected by changes beyond our shores and control.
4. At the macro level, changes affecting us today include
(a) Economic uncertainties caused by geopolitical tensions – unfortunately this has been ratcheting up in recent weeks;
(b) Transformations arising from technological innovations, including AI breakthroughs - I will talk a little more about this later; and
(c) Transformations towards a greener and more sustainable economy and future.
5. Now, these shifts in the macro environment affect businesses and the way we work. I do not have to persuade you of this because many of you have experienced the impact of such shifts. You have already taken steps to adapt and respond to these changes. At some levels, it is a matter of survival.
6. Firms and practitioners need to be able to ride the waves of transformation to achieve progress and growth. Our Government also keeps an eye on the horizon, so as to support all local players to not be overwhelmed and to continue to stay competitive regionally, and globally too.
7. Today, I would like to focus on three areas for firms to develop their potential and capabilities on an individual level, and consequently grow the industry. They are digitalisation and artificial intelligence; internationalisation; and education and the development of deep expertise. I will take the three topics in turn.
B. Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence
8. In recent years, the calls for adoption of new technologies have been loud and constant. This has materialised in the mass and rapid adoption of AI.
(a) In a 2023 survey by the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (“ISCA”), 72% of employer-respondents, and 82% of employee-respondents agreed that AI will be a positive disruptor. 1
(b) A recent white paper by the World Economic Forum (“WEF”) and Accenture2 found that approximately 46% of tasks in the legal sphere can be automated or augmented3 by Large Language Models. These are AI systems capable of understanding and generating human language text. The findings are similar for accounting and auditing services too.
9. Now, the impact of AI will be profound as the years go by. Just yesterday, I was on the way home, I heard on the BBC that two AI trailblazers – John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton – were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics. With significant breakthroughs in AI, Singapore has shifted its national AI strategy to empower our people and businesses to enable new growth opportunities, which generates greater value and spurs economic growth.
10. In the legal sector, after consulting more than 90 industry stakeholders, the Ministry of Law has published its 2020 Legal Industry Technology and Innovation Roadmap, to support firms in their adoption of technology by presenting initiatives and recommendations for transformation for the next decade.
11. In October 2023, the Ministry of Law and Infocomm Media Development Authority further introduced the Legal Industry Digital Plan to guide Singapore Law Practices in their digitalisation journey. This was updated in September 2024, just a month ago, to include how AI and GenAI can enhance legal work processes, provide data-driven insights and support legal project management.
(a) The industry digital plan is suitable for Singapore Law Practices with diverse profiles and at different stages of their business journey, whether they are looking to get ready, grow, or leap ahead, into the digital economy.
12. The inclusion of newer technologies – AI and GenAI – as part of the expanded Productivity Solution Grant for the Legal Sector4 is therefore timely.
(a) This grant supports 70% of the costs of adopting legaltech solutions for up to two years, if application is made by 31 March 2025 – so we still have some time.
(b) The Grant can be utilised for a curated list of legaltech solutions, which address different challenges faced by firms – whether the challenges are related to business processes or document management.
(c) One example is the Copilot for Singapore Law Firms, where Microsoft Copilot is integrated with the Legal Technology Platform. This allows lawyers to harness GenAI capabilities when performing legal tasks.
13. Likewise, the accounting industry can tap on the Productivity Solutions Grant and Robotic Process Automation Adoption Support schemes to digitalise and improve productivity, by utilising technology to streamline work that is capable of automation or augmentation. This, in turn, allows practitioners to focus on higher-value work.
14. Other offerings to assist firms with their digital transformation include:
(a) "GPT-Legal” (that is co-developed by the Singapore Academy of Law and the Infocomm Media Development Authority), a tool, trained using Singapore’s LawNet data, which summarises more than 15,000 court judgments, and features in-built trust and safety features to mitigate the risks associated with AI-generated content. And we know that some of the AI-generated content can be quite realistic.
(b) Prompt Engineering Guide for Lawyers (co-developed by SAL and Microsoft), that provides legal professionals with fundamental prompt engineering techniques across various chat-based Gen AI tools, so that they can leverage Gen AI more effectively too.
15. It is hoped that these initiatives will encourage more law practices and accounting practices to explore and harness the potential of AI solutions.
C. Internationalisation
16. I now turn to the second key area for development: internationalisation.
17. Given Singapore’s small and open economy, our economic fortunes are deeply interconnected with regional and international economies, particularly those in the Asia-Pacific region within which Singapore is nestled.
18. In the R&I space, we have taken steps to prime our frameworks for international cases.
(a) As you would be aware, Singapore has modernised its insolvency legislation through the Insolvency Restructuring Dissolution Act (“IRDA”).
(b) We have also clarified that the Singapore International Commercial Court (“SICC”) can exercise jurisdiction over international commercial insolvency and restructuring matters.
19. Let me elaborate on the SICC.
(a) The SICC is a natural forum for the hearing of cross-border insolvency matters, because it was designed for such cases.
(b) The SICC’s bench comprises International Judges with deep expertise across various legal traditions as well as experience in commercial matters, including in restructuring and insolvency.
20. One envisioned possibility of the SICC was realised in the recent case of No Va Land Investment Group Corporation. You may already be familiar with the decision of Justice Michael James Peck, who was a former US bankruptcy judge.
(a) The debtor, one of the largest listed real estate developers in Vietnam, successfully concluded the restructuring of an estimated US$300 million worth of offshore New York Law convertible bonds. The prepackaged scheme of arrangement was approved by the Court in just 15 days.
21. As we monitor the outcomes of our previous reforms, we do not rest on our laurels.
(a) Some of you may recall that the Second Minister for Law Mr Edwin Tong announced at the previous edition of the Singapore Insolvency Conference that our Ministry had convened the Committee to Enhance Singapore's Corporate R&I Regime, led by Justice Aidan Xu and Permanent Secretary for Law Mr Luke Goh.
(b) I understand the Committee has engaged in robust debates on improvements that can be considered to strengthen our restructuring and insolvency regime over the last year. The Ministry looks forward to receiving the Committee’s report and engaging the practitioners on the same.
22. Besides domestic frameworks, Singapore is also involved in contributing to the shaping of norms in cross-border insolvency in multi-lateral initiatives such as at UNCITRAL’s Working Group V.
23. Additionally, Singapore has also adopted bilateral Court agreements to support coordination and cooperation – for example:
(a) The Supreme Court of Singapore and Federal Court of Malaysia have implemented a protocol for court-to-court cooperation in cross-border insolvency and shipping matters.
(b) The Supreme Court of Singapore has also entered into MOUs with the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, and Seoul Bankruptcy Court.
24. Besides exchanges at the national level, Singapore also supports international platforms that provide opportunities for relationship-building and knowledge-sharing amongst practitioners, academics, and other stakeholders. For example:
(a) The International Insolvency Institute’s Annual Conference, and the Forum on Asian Insolvency Reform (FAIR), which was held this year and I had the privilege of speaking at FAIR too.
(b) At today’s conference, we see the second annual meeting of the Regional Restructuring and Insolvency Organisations Forum (RRIOF), and I am glad that Manoj introduced the acronym to you, which gathers the representatives of national insolvency associations in the Asia-Pacific.
25. With these connections and platforms, all firms – big and small alike – are enabled to be better attuned to the needs of businesses and new opportunities which lie beyond our shores. Digitalisation and globalisation have increased access for domestic businesses to international markets. We should therefore capitalise on these economic opportunities and build up our individual international networks and connections.
26. The Government’s initiatives to help Singapore lawyers internationalise fall into three broad categories:
(a) First, networking events – to provide platforms for our lawyers to network and interact with businesses and practitioners from other jurisdictions. For example, MinLaw organises the Singapore Convention Week every year, which attracts more than 4,000 practitioners from around the world.
(b) Second, training – to build capabilities in specific markets. For example, we introduced the China Ready Programme in 2019, to help our practitioners understand Chinese culture, their business environment, their legal system and laws, so that our practitioners can better work with Chinese companies and the firms there.
(c) Third, exchange programmes – to immerse our practitioners in the environment of other jurisdictions. Last year, we introduced the Singapore-Shanghai Lawyers Exchange Programme. We have completed two runs so far, with Shanghai lawyers doing a 3-month attachment to our Singapore law offices, and our Singapore lawyers doing a 3-month attachment with Shanghai law firms.
(d) Feedback from the Singapore host firms, and exchange lawyers has been positive. They were able to gain a better understanding of how the Chinese work, and build deeper bonds with Chinese law firms and lawyers. Many of them reported tangible outcomes as well, in the form of case referrals.
27. These connections at various levels and sectors place us in a good position to tackle obstacles that may arise in cross-border restructuring and insolvency cases, and also positively signify mutually-beneficial steps towards greater cooperation and recognition.
D. Expertise - The Development of Insolvency Professionals’ Skills and Networks
28. I turn now to ‘expertise’.
29. Deepening expertise starts from the most junior amongst us – to effect transformation across the profession, we have to begin with our young lawyers’ foundational years in practice.
30. In this regard, reforms have been implemented to enhance the legal education and training of lawyers from the time they are in tertiary education.
(a) Briefly, this involved increasing the coverage of concepts outside the common law system, extending the length of training for fresh graduates, and offering secondment opportunities for young lawyers.
31. As these professionals garner experience, there are several specialised insolvency courses in Singapore on offer that can deepen their expertise. These courses have been well received, reflecting a keen interest in this field by local and regional participants.
(a) The specialised courses include numerous courses organised by the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Singapore (“IPAS”), the SMU Singapore Global Restructuring Initiative (“SGRI”), and INSOL International.
(b) Some of these courses are supported by SkillsFuture funding too.
(c) Now, I learnt from Manoj that it is customary at the Singapore Insolvency Conference, to celebrate with those who have completed the SMU-IPAS Graduate Certificate in Insolvency and Restructuring. I wish you my heartiest congratulations.
32. In addition, there are other training opportunities for young practitioners, such as internship programmes organised by law firms, and INSOL Asia Hub. I understand the interns in these programmes have found their hands-on experiences to be excellent opportunities to deepen their knowledge of restructuring and insolvency, as well as to better immerse themselves in the industry.
33. Similar changes are taking place for the accounting sector.
(a) The recent Accountancy Workforce Review Committee's (AWRC) comprehensive report5 touched on the growth of Singapore's pool of skilled accounting professionals, and encouraged firms to offer and expand postings and secondments of their employees to other countries.
(b) This would enable these members of the accounting community to form global connections and learn to apply their skills in different cross-border contexts. Several firms6 have endorsed the AWRC's recommendations and I believe we can look forward to the implementation of the strategies outlined by the AWRC.
(c) Another initiative for the accounting firms is the Sustainability Apex Programme7 which aims to forge connections between accounting and law firms to deliver more sustainability-related services to companies. This initiative offers Masterclasses, workshops, overseas business trips, and networking events as well.
34. In sum, our Government is committed to preparing the legal, accounting and auditing workforce to be agile. Such adaptability will be crucial for our community to navigate technological and global economic changes, broader macro shifts as well as global transitions.
E. Conclusion
35. In closing, amidst the tides of change, there is also vast oceans of opportunities for growth.
36. By leveraging technological advancements, the tools and platforms tailored for international cooperation and collaboration, as well as deepening the skills of our professionals, we can ensure that Singapore’s insolvency and restructuring regime continues being robust, fair, and internationally trusted.
37. I wish you a good two days of conference. Thank you very much for attending.
1. Survey conducted by the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA)↩
2. "Jobs of Tomorrow" published in September 2023 ↩
3. The remaining tasks are non-language tasks or tasks that have a lower potential of being automated/augmented by GenAI. ↩
4. Under this grant, pre-qualified legaltech solutions are supported at 70% for up to two years, as opposed to 50% for one year for other sectors. This is subject to a grant cap of S$30,000 per annum per entity. The enhanced support is available till 31 March 2025.↩
5. The AWRC was co-chaired by former Singapore Accountancy Commission Chairman Ms Chaly Mah, Second Permanent Secretary for Finance Ms Lai Wei Lin, with the support of the Ministry of Finance and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority. It was convened in October 2022 and released its comprehensive report on 10 May 2024.↩
6. E.g., EY, RSM, Deloitte, KPMG ↩
7. The Sustainability Apex Programme is a joint initiative by the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and The Law Society of Singapore, supported by Enterprise Singapore.↩
Last updated on 9 Oct 2024