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The following briefing provides a round-up of the Cayman legal and regulatory developments during the third quarter of 2022 that may be of interest to funds clients. We are pleased to note that there is nothing critical or requiring immediate action at this time.

Summary of recent legal and regulatory developments

On 1 July 2017 a new amendment to the Czech Insolvency Act came into force. One of the most significant changes introduced by the amendment relates to the assessment of insolvency of the debtor, performed by means of the cash-flow insolvency test.

Under Czech law, the debtor is insolvent if it has several creditors, due and payable debts for more than 30 days, and it is not able to fulfill them.

A significant amendment to the Czech Insolvency Act will take effect on 1 July 2017. It has been stated that the main aim of the amendment is to introduce measures against so called “insolvency mafia” and regulate consultancy services providers in connection with solving personal debts. The amendment brings changes to rules for personal bankruptcies, which are to be solved through a discharge from debts.

On September 9, 2016, Citibank’s London Branch filed a claim as collateral agent for the bondholders of New World Resources (NWR) with the High Court in Ostrava in the insolvency proceedings of OKD. OKD owns seven coal mines in the Czech Republic, employing over 13000 people. The low cost of coal and the refusal of the Czech Government to bail it out led to OKD filing for a Czech restructuring process in May 2016.

Over the past two or three years, we have seen an increasing number of cases where a client holds and wishes to sell or transfer shares in a Cayman Islands company which is in liquidation, or is seeking to purchase shares in such a company from another party.  In those circumstances, the transfer of the shares would be void absent the validation of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, as a result of section 99 of the Companies Law (2013 Revision) ("Section 99").  Section 99 is in the following terms:

In the current climate, the demand for jobs substantially exceeds the supply. Even so, for employers it can still be difficult to find a quality employee who meets the specific requirements for the given job. Once a suitable employee is found for the vacant position, they complete the usual formalities – submitting documents on their education, health and evidence of criminal records, agree with the employer on wages and other conditions of the employment and sign the labor contract.