The issuance of the Companies Act (Register of Beneficial Owners) (Amendment) Regulations, referred to as Legal Notice 247 of 2020 confirms that the Registrar of Companies shall have further powers to investigate the ultimate beneficial ownership of the companies that are to be or are registered in Malta. These new Regulations, which came into force in June 2020, shall require Maltese companies to abide by new annual filing obligation confirming ultimate beneficial ownership of the relative company’s issued shares.
The COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the United States has triggered unprecedented disruption of corporate America, resulting in many otherwise healthy companies facing financial distress and potentially teetering on insolvency. These companies’ directors understandably may have questions about how this sudden change in financial health impacts the fiduciary duties they owe to the company.
On 25 June 2020 the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act (the Act) received Royal Assent. The Act makes both temporary and permanent changes to the UK insolvency laws.
The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 introduces a temporary, retrospective suspension of the directors' personal financial liability for wrongful trading from 1 March 2020 until 30 September 2020. This is not a blanket defence to a breach of duty by directors, since the directors' general duties to act in the best interests of the company (or, on insolvency, its creditors),will continue to apply.
In a decision of first impression entered on June 3, 2020, a Chicago bankruptcy court (“Court”) held that a restaurant tenant was excused from paying a significant portion of its rent under the force majeure provisions of its lease because of the governor’s executive order prohibiting in-house dining during the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] This decision is highly significant for landlords and tenants whose ability to service their clients has similarly been restricted by government orders.
The government has introduced the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill in Parliament, which will put in place a series of measures. This includes temporarily removing the threat of personal The liability for wrongful trading from directors trying to keep their companies afloat through the emergency.
The COVID-19 pandemic and forced shutdowns have wrought a wave of financial distress globally for individuals and businesses, large and small. Three months in, the effects of the shutdowns have begun to materialize in the United States in the form of bankruptcy filings. According to a recent report, in May 2020 alone, some 27 companies reporting at least $50 million in liabilities sought court protection from creditors.
Samantha Gilbert speaks to compliance leaders from the healthcare, financial services, insurance, IT and commercial sectors on what to expect from the new “business as usual” and enforcement. Conduct reviews, increased regulatory scrutiny and long-term digitisation are some key issues for compliance teams to prepare for.
Welcome to the inaugural edition of our new newsletter, which is intended to capture the key developments in the English disputes arena over the past three months. We hope that you will find it an interesting read, whether you are a litigator, either in private practice or in-house, or a generalist wanting to keep abreast of the goings on in this space. We also hope that you will pass it on to any of your colleagues who may find it useful.
