Yesterday, the U.K. government published a report entitled "Developing effective resolution arrangements for investment banks" which sets forth, primarily in response to the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holding, Inc. (in particular its U.K. arm, Lehman Brothers International (Europe)), the U.K.
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.
Yesterday, Iceland’s Prime Minister announced that the government has decided not to bring suit against the UK authorities for the Freezing Order issued against Landsbanki by the UK authorities on October 8, 2008, on the basis of their Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act.
In the current economic climate, there are a number of key issues facing borrowers in the event of lender insolvency or default.
Committed facilities/term loans
Provided they are fully drawn and the borrower is not in breach itself, the impact in the short term may not be too severe.
The Banking Bill recasts key aspects of bank supervision and insolvency. With such wide-ranging changes to digest, financial institutions and other companies could be forgiven for ignoring the seemingly obscure clauses relating to financial collateral. But these provisions could remove legal uncertainty for those taking collateral particularly in traded markets (like energy trading) where banks are not always the main players.
Facts
In Andrew Fender (Administrator of FG Collier & Sons Limited) - v - National Westminster Bank Plc, a company went into administration. The administrator applied to the court to establish whether he had to treat NatWest bank as a secured or unsecured creditor of the company.
In his Pre-Budget Report delivered on 24 November 2008, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling announced the Government’s intention to introduce special insolvency procedures for investment firms holding client assets or client money.
The procedures will be introduced by secondary legislation under the Banking Bill (which was introduced into Parliament in October 2008) following a government sponsored review by an expert liaison group.
The review, to be concluded by summer 2009, will consider, inter alia:
Today, the U.K. Treasury announced that it “has taken decisive action to protect the interests of retail depositors and wider financial stability” by placing London Scottish Bank plc in administration.
Introduction
On 25 July 2008, HM Treasury published a Consultation Paper entitled Modernising the insolvency protections for the operation of financial markets - proposals to reform Part 7 of the 1989 Companies Act (the Consultation Paper).
Proposals
In Sea Emerald SA v Prominvestbank - Joint Stockpoint Commercial Industrial & Investment Bank - Lawtel 19.8.08 the Commercial Court gave a reminder of the importance of ensuring that the person signing a guarantee upon which you may seek to rely has authority to do so.