To Our Clients and Friends Memorandum March 30, 2020 Copyright © 2020 Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP A Delaware Limited Liability Partnership 1 COVID-19 Pandemic: Key UK Government and Bank of England Initiatives to Support Businesses * In light of the rapidly developing situation and government response, this memorandum is current as of March 29, 2020. The rapid transmission of COVID-19 around the world has had a transformative impact on economies, politics and societies. Europe and the United States, in particular, have now emerged as epicentres of the pandemic.
The respected Financial Markets Law Committee sponsored by the Bank of England has published a paper, dated October 2011, containing an analysis of legal uncertainty in the FSA’s Client Assets Sourcebook (CASS) and arising from judicial decisions relating to the administration of Lehman Brothers International (Europe).
MF Global UK Limited In Special Administration
The Financial Services Authority (“FSA”) has confirmed that MF Global UK Limited (“MF Global UK”) has entered the Special Administration Regime created under the Investment Bank Special Administration Regulations 2011 (“Regulations”).1 MF Global UK is the first investment bank to enter the Special Administration Regime. The decision to apply for special administration was initiated by the board of MF Global UK.
The UK Financial Services Authority (“FSA”) confirmed on 31 Oct. 2011 that MF Global UK Limited (“MF Global UK”) will be subject to the new Special Administration Regime (“SAR”).[1] This is the first time that the new regime, set out in The Investment Bank Special Administration Regulations 2011 (“SAR Regulations”)[2] has been invoked.
Background
Summary
FSA is consulting on the need for certain financial services firms to prepare and maintain Recovery and Resolution Plans (RRPs) and in addition for some of these firms, and others, to make further preparations for their investment client money and custody assets (CMA) holdings.
Why now?
Yesterday, the United Kingdom’s Commercial Secretary to the Treasury launched a consultation on a new special-resolution regime, Special administration regime for investment firms, to strengthen the government’s ability to handle future insolvencies of failing investment banks to minimize cost and disruption of the overall national financial system.
In light of recent reports released to the market, a lender in the leveraged loan market would be forgiven for indulging in some cautious optimism. New-issuance in July aggregated to €9.5 billion - a 13-month high. The year-to-date leveraged buy-out volume of €10 billion (38 deals) compares favourably with the €2.2 billion of volume (13 deals) for the same period in 2009. Against this backdrop, however, lenders should consider the recently released statistics from the Insolvency Service, and other economic data, which suggest that the economic outlook remains uncertain.
On January 22nd, the FDIC and the Bank of England announced their agreement to a memorandum of understanding, expanding their cooperation when they act as resolution authorities in resolving troubled deposit-taking financial institutions with activities in the United States and United Kingdom. FDIC Press Release.
Historically, the United Kingdom has not had a specialised bankruptcy regime for dealing with the failures of financial institutions. Rather, these were handled under the same rules that applied to ordinary corporations.
The number of individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) is set to soar to over 50,000 this year, according to industry sources. This follows two years in which the number of IVAs has been slightly more than 40,000 per year.