Welcome to the latest edition of the Financial Regulation Weekly Bulletin.
If you would like to discuss in more detail, please contact your relationship partner or email one of our Financial Regulation team.
Developments this week are in relation to:
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The Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 (the “Act”) came into force on 2 December 2025, providing helpful statutory confirmation that digital assets may be considered “property” as a matter of law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Act, working together with current insolvency law, is a significant step in providing further certainty to investors, lenders, and custodians in the digital asset market.
As economic pressures mount and corporate distress becomes increasingly prevalent, lenders and borrowers alike are seeking proactive strategies to safeguard their interests without resorting to immediate enforcement action or commence other restructuring or insolvency proceedings. Whilst lenders typically prefer to avoid the costs and complexities of accelerating loans or enforcing security, they require effective mechanisms to monitor deteriorating financial positions of the borrower and maintain influence over critical business decisions.
As 2025 draws to a close, this newsletter reviews key developments that have shaped the commercial disputes landscape over the past year and offers our views on significant English court decisions. We then look ahead to the trends likely to define 2026. We also reflect on another productive and successful year for Hausfeld’s Commercial Disputes team.
HOW DID 2025 CHANGE THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE?
Financial services
This is the latest in our series of discussions about how clients have used HSF Kramer's Decision Analysis models as part of their strategy for disputes management.
This week, financial disputes specialist Donny Surtani describes its use in a sell-or-hold decision relating to a distressed debt holding:
An assignment for benefit of creditors (an “ABC”) under the common law is an out-of-court tool for liquidating a business debtor’s assets in an efficient and credible manner.
Such a common law tool has been used, effectively and frequently, for many years in such states as Illinois and California.
Despite the out-of-court nature of an ABC under the common law, courts can still be enlisted to resolve discrete issues that may arise. Here is an example of a court’s involvement, within an ABC under the common law, to resolve an issue of compensation for the ABC assignee:
Welcome back to Distressed Debt Legal Insights, Ropes & Gray’s new source of timely insights for professionals navigating the complex world of liability management. In this edition, we’re looking at how Anthology resolved an objection to its proposed non-pro rata DIP rollup.
Background
Anthology filed for Chapter 11 on Sept. 29 in the Southern District of Texas with a restructuring support agreement signed by 87% of first out lenders and 68% of second out lenders.
Developing the support scheme for banks that take over weaker banks (“Acquiring Banks”) has become a cornerstone of Vietnam’s restructuring agenda under Decision No. 689/QD-TTg on “Restructuring credit institutions in conjunction with non-performing loan resolution for 2021 – 2025” dated 8 June 2022. In this context, lawmakers have gradually equipped Acquiring Banks with stronger tools, from asset seizure rights under the Amended CsI 2025 (as discussed in Topic 7.1) to new regulation designed to mobilize foreign capital. Specifically, Decree No.