Happy National ESIGN Day! Eighteen years ago this week, Congress passed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, ensuring the legal validity of contracts entered into using electronic signatures and records. National ESIGN Day was established by Senate Resolution 576 and House Concurrent Resolution 290 on June 30, 2010.

A fact of business today is that customers – both consumers and other businesses – and employees expect to transact digitally. To remain competitive, companies find themselves increasing their efforts to digitally transform their businesses.

On 19 June 2018, the Treasury published its call for evidence response (Response) in respect of the government’s proposed 2017 manifesto pledge to introduce a ‘breathing space scheme’ for serious problem debt (Scheme).

Basel and other regulators seem to regard credit risk as being under control and have identified reputational and IT risks – risk you cannot close off with prudential capital charges – as the sources of the next crisis. Another one being talked about is potential illiquidity for funds, which are buying more illiquid assets in the hunt for yield.

On the morning that Mothercare announced its CVA, its share price went up by 35% (from 20p to 27p) and now sits at 35p (up 75%) from the price the day before the CVA was launched.

Summary: Following a number of corporate governance failures, the Government has published a consultation paper aimed at cracking down on directors and employers behaving irresponsibly. “These reforms will give the regulatory authorities much stronger powers to come down hard on abuse and to make irresponsible directors bear the consequences of their actions.” Greg Clark. Responses are required by 11 June 2018.

Sale of Businesses in Distress

Summary: In Wright (and another) (as joint liquidators of SHB Realisations Ltd (formerly BHS Ltd) (in liquidation)) v Prudential Assurance Company Ltd, the court held that, when the BHS CVA terminated, the landlord was entitled to claim the full rent due under its lease. With more recent CVAs seeking to push the envelope even further, is the continued compromise of landlord creditors post-CVA the next issue to be tested in the courts?

Summary: Welcome to the fourth edition of our monthly Myanmar update in 2018. We have distilled the top news items into this summary 'speed read'.

Public Consultations on the Myanmar Insolvency Bill

The recent judgment in Phones 4U Ltd (in administration) v EE Ltd [2018] EWHC 49 (Comm) has highlighted the need for care when communicating the reasons for terminating a contract. In this case EE, as a result of failing to identify a repudiatory breach as the grounds for terminating its trading agreement with Phone 4U, was precluded from later pursuing a common law claim for damages.

Background

INSOL Europe attended the 52nd session of Working Group V (Insolvency law) held in Vienna from 18 to 22 December 2018 in its capacity as an invited international non-governmental organisation (NGO) with observer status. Other observers included, inter alia, World Bank, European Investment Bank, European Banking Federation, the American Bar Association, the International Bar Association, INSOL International, International Insolvency Institute, European Law Institute.

Summary: This Expert Insight looks at the case of Ziggurat (Claremont Place) v HCC International Insurance Company PLC [2017] and considers the implications of the case for the surety industry generally, particularly in the context of construction insolvency.