On 7 October 2015, the Financial Conduct Authority launched a ‘Call for Inputs’ on competition in the mortgage sector. The Call for Inputs provides an opportunity for interested parties to help the FCA identify potential areas where competition may not be working well and could be improved.

From 1 January 2016, deposits made by private individuals and small businesses to any authorised firms are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to a limit of £75,000 (previously £85,000).

The Insolvency Service published its quarterly statistics on company insolvency and individual procedures showing:

October 2016 will see the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010 finally brought into force. Although five years since it passed through Parliament, the act has never received Royal Assent due to a number of practical hurdles.

According to recent press reports, Dave Forsey, Chief Executive of Sports Direct, is the latest (and most high-profile) executive to be hit by court proceedings concerning alleged failure to comply with redundancy notification procedures - in his case in his former position at fashion retailer, USC. As these and other reports confirm, there is clear evidence that the Insolvency Service is increasingly proactive in pursuing organisations, their senior personnel and insolvency practitioners who fail to file the requisite redundancy notification form (HR1) on time.

With the first PPF levy invoices based on the new Experian insolvency-risk assessment model starting to land on trustees’ door-mats, many schemes have made the unwelcome discovery that their PPF levy for 2015-16 has suffered a substantial hike. Around 200 schemes are reported to have seen levy rises in excess of £200,000.

Credit Today reports that recent statistics from the Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB), the government agency that administers the insolvency regime in Scotland, have revealed that:

The Insolvency (Protection of Essential Supplies) Order 2015 which comes in to force on 1 October 2015 significantly changes the options available for suppliers of IT services in relation to their rights against insolvent customers. Any IT supplier caught within the definition of the new legislation will need to beware that they can no longer insist on payment of outstanding invoices as a condition of continued supply to an insolvent business, nor rely on clauses applying automatic price rises upon insolvency of the customer.

(1) PST Energy 7 Shipping LLC and (2) Product Shipping and Trading S.A. v (1) OW Bunker Malta Limited and (2) ING Bank N.V. [2015] EWHC 2022 (Comm)

The recent appeal to the High Court in Woolsey v Payne [2015] EWHC 968 (Ch), from the Chief Registrar in insolvency proceedings, considered the application of sections 16B and 74(1)(a) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, which relate to the enforceability of loans made for business purposes and/or in the course of a business.