Digital assets may be new, but existing English insolvency laws and principles can deal with them. So finds the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT) in its ‘Legal Statement on Digital Assets and English Insolvency Law’, published this week.

Key takeaways include:

The new Companies House Register of Overseas Entities (the “OE Register”) became operational and key parts of the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act (“ECTEA”) came into force on 1 August 2022.

The land registration elements of ECTEA have been deferred and will come into force on 5 September 2022 – this second stage of implementation will with effect from such date have an immediate impact on the registration of property acquisitions and new leases and security being taken over those acquisitions/leases.

Earlier today, the Court of Appeal handed down a significant judgment dealing with the adequacy of standard form after-the-event (“ATE”) insurance to defeat an application for security for costs.

In an unanimous ruling, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court’s judgment on the defendants’ security for costs applications in Premier Motorauctions Limited (in liquidation), Premier Motorauctions Leeds Limited (in liquidation) v PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Lloyds Bank plc [2016] EWHC 2610 (Ch).

In an important judgment, the High Court has tackled the question of whether an impecunious claimant can defeat a defendant’s application for security for costs on the basis that it has ATE insurance in place.