A set of new insolvency rules are coming into force, as of April 6 2017, as Stephen Young explains in the following bulletin. In short, the previous insolvency rules that have been in force since 1986 no longer apply and instead a whole new set of rules now must be used.
The new Insolvency (England & Wales) 2016 rules will apply to all cases, both existing and new.
In short, the main changes are as follows:
1. All of the Parts and Numbering of the old rules have been completely changed so each type of insolvency has its own new Part.
The Court of Appeal has recently overturned the commonly held belief that a validation order would normally be made if the disposition made by a company subject to a winding up petition was done so in good faith and in the ordinary course of business at a time when the parties were unaware of the existence of the petition.
1. The starting point
Section 127 Insolvency Act 1986 provides:
RBS announced last month that SME customers will automatically be entitled to a refund of the fees that they were charged whilst being managed by the Bank’s Global Restructuring Group (GRG) between 2008 and 2013 following a review by the FCA.
This offer follows on from the payments RBS has made in recent years for the mis-selling of PPI and interest rate swap products which has resulted in £1.8 billion of redress costs.
This article examines possible consequences for SMEs that were in GRG during the relevant period which now are, or have been, in an insolvency procedure.
New measures intended to be implemented by the FCA next year, will have a significant impact on companies with controlling shareholders who are premium listed and also on those companies considering joining the premium segment. They follow the regulator's assessment of the premium listing regime over the last couple of years, as it considered how to bolster minority shareholder protection without risking damage to London's attractiveness as a listing venue.
Empty units, falling yields and the spectre of tenant defaults are increasingly common issues that landlords have had to face in the current recession. To add to this landlords have also had to confront a number of high profile CVAs including JJB Sports (twice), Blacks Leisure, Stylo Group, Focus DIY, Fitness First and Travelodge to name a few.
Philip Jones explains that recent cases have confirmed the need for insolvency office holders, and those appointing them, to take great care to ensure that the appointments are valid.
As was described in our article Invalid Liquidation Appointments the appointment of an insolvency office holder can be fraught with difficulties.
As the prospects for business survival become ever tougher due to challenging economic conditions, administrators and liquidators are increasingly finding themselves having to justify to the courts whether or not costs should be treated as an expense of the administration or liquidation.
Sums incurred or paid as an expense of an administration or liquidation are, unlike debts incurred before the appointment of the administrator or liquidator, paid in preference to unsecured debts and also before the administrator or liquidator's fees and expenses.
There have been a number of first instance decisions concerning the construction and effect of Section 2 (a) (iii) of the ISDA Master Agreement. The problem has been the conflicts between the various judgments, and in particular, with respect to the interpretation and effect of Section 2 (a) (iii). This has led to uncertainly as to how the Section is intended to operate.
Today, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) published Final Notices for Christchurch Investment Management Limited (Christchurch) and the firm's compliance officer, David Thornberry, for breaches of the FSA's client money rules (CASS rules).
We have seen an increasing number of pre-packs over recent years, how does a pre-pack work?