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What is Changing in the Pensions Insolvency World? Introducing the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020

The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 is far-reaching with its implications extending to pension schemes. Pension scheme employers and trustees should ensure that they are familiar with the provisions of the Act, and the potential impact that they could have on schemes, employers and savers.

Introduction

The Act received royal assent on Thursday 25 June. The Act passed through Parliament very quickly, so that its provisions can be used by companies experiencing financial difficulty as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Act contains:

United Kingdom, Employee Benefits & Pensions, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Mayer Brown, Corporate governance, Coronavirus, Pension Protection Fund
The UK Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (“CIGA”) from a Pensions Perspective

On 25 June 2020, the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill (the “Bill”) received Royal Assent and on 26 June 2020 CIGA came into force. The restructuring team in Mayer Brown’s London office has previously commented on the different elements of the Bill in a series of blog posts and podcasts.

United Kingdom, Employee Benefits & Pensions, Insolvency & Restructuring, Mayer Brown, Coronavirus, Pension Protection Fund
Revisiting the DIFC Insolvency Law in the Context of the COVID-19 Crisis: An Innovative Toolkit for the Turnaround of Troubled Enterprises

In the wake of the high profile collapse of the private equity firm Abraaj Capital, the Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”) updated its insolvency regime with the introduction on June 13, 2019 of the new DIFC Insolvency Law (Law No.1 of 2019) (the “DIFC Insolvency Law”).

United Arab Emirates, Insolvency & Restructuring, Dechert LLP, Private equity, Coronavirus
The UAE Bankruptcy Law: Stepping up to the challenges raised by the COVID-19 crisis

With the significant strain placed on market participants as a result of the combined impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the oil price war and the ensuing liquidity and credit crunches, we expect that a number of enterprises in the United Arab Emirates ("UAE") will either be forced to carry out restructurings or otherwise undergo formal court-supervised insolvency processes.

United Arab Emirates, Insolvency & Restructuring, Dechert LLP, Private equity, Coronavirus
The Nortel and Lehman Brothers companies

Background

Under the Pensions Act 2004 the Pensions Regulator (tPR) has the power to impose a financial support direction (FSD) requiring a company “connected or associated” with the sponsoring employer of a UK pension fund to provide financial support to the pension fund. To date tPR has used the power in insolvencies.

United Kingdom, Employee Benefits & Pensions, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Dentons, Debt, The Pensions Regulator (UK), Lehman Brothers, Pensions Act 2004 (UK)
UK pensions: summer round-up

This summer has seen several pension issues making the news. They show how essential it is for employers and trustees to keep abreast of how developments impact on their arrangements.

Jay Doraisamy looks at five areas which have made the headlines this summer:

United Kingdom, Corporate Finance/M&A, Employee Benefits & Pensions, Insolvency & Restructuring, Litigation, Tax, Dentons