Both the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken by governments have led to unprecedented legal questions that require immediate attention and solutions. These are challenging times. We have therefore prepared the following overview of some of the pertinent legal questions and the answers to consider, in the hope they provide useful preliminary guidance.
Topic | Main issues in relation to the risk of director liability |
Question |
Cash pooling during the COVID-19 pandemic provides particular challenges for management. What the most important issues on which to focus?
Many businesses, particularly those operating internationally, have set up group cash pooling systems to optimise payment processes and maximise liquidity. A well-structured cash pooling system offers a treasury department transparency over the group's liquidity and by centralising financing requirements can reduce costs.
On 23 March 2020, the German Federal Cabinet adopted further urgent measures to mitigate the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The package of measures includes an emergency aid programme for micro-enterprises, self-employed persons and freelancers of up to EUR 50 billion and an economic stabilisation fund of EUR 600 billion as well as a Law to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in civil law, insolvency law and criminal proceedings.
In a unanimous decision written by Justice Neil Gorsuch (Rodriquez v. FDIC No 18-12690), the Supreme Court vacated a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (In reUnited Western Bancorp, Inc., 914 F. 3d 1262 (10th Cir, 2019)) that awarded a federal income tax refund of a failed bank to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as receiver.
A decision this month out of the Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan (SDNY) could have a significant impact on the market for student loan securitizations. Student loan asset-backed securities (SLABS) are unsecured, but market participants typically assume that the underlying student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. A new ruling by the chief judge of the SDNY’s Bankruptcy Court challenges this assumption.
EMPLOYMENT (news)
Diversity in boards of larger companies
Targets (i.e., at least 30% women) imposed by Dutch law for a more balanced composition of the executive and supervisory boards of ‘large’ companies shall cease to exist as of 2020. A ‘large’ company is a company that meets two of the following requirements: (i) EUR 20 mio balance sheet total; (ii) net turnover of EUR 40 mio; and (iii) 250 employees. This does not, however, mean that diversity is no longer on the agenda of the Dutch Government.
Eine Betriebsprüfung beim Arbeitgeber kann dazu führen, dass Sozialversicherungsbeiträge nachgefordert werden. Die Folge kann eine drohende Insolvenz sein.
Die Restrukturierungs-Richtlinie ist in aller Munde. Wir zeigen, welche Auswirkungen sie auf das Arbeitsrecht hat.
Der vollständige Name lautet: Richtlinie (EU) 2019/1023 des Europäischen Parlaments und des Rates vom 20. Juni 2019 über präventive Restrukturierungsrahmen, über Entschuldung und über Tätigkeitsverbote sowie über Maßnahmen zur Steigerung der Effizienz von Restrukturierungs-, Insolvenz- und Entschuldungsverfahren und zur Änderung der Richtlinie (EU) 2017/1132.
The EU Parliament adopted the Directive on future "Preventive Restructuring Frameworks", which creates the basis for uniform preventive restructuring across the European Union and will fundamentally change how companies deal with financial difficulties and restructuring.
Until now, the EU has suffered from a regulatory patchwork in this area with no regulations in some markets and sophisticated procedures in others. The new directive mitigates the dangers and risks posed by the former uneven regulatory landscape.
The EU Parliament adopted the Directive on future "Preventative Restructuring Frameworks.
This creates the basis for a uniform legal framework for preventive restructuring within Europe. To date there has been a "patchwork" of regulations in the EU: in some cases there are no regulations at all, in others there are sophisticated procedures in place. The new directive now counteracts the dangers and risks of such regulatory differences.