The Dutch legislator has published a bill for a new pre-insolvency tool, which seeks to combine the best of the UK scheme of arrangement and the US Chapter 11 procedure. The new legislation will be formally called 'The Act regarding the binding approval of debt restructuring agreements'. Among restructuring professionals it is already widely referred to as the WHOA (Wet homologatie onderhands akkoord) or the "Dutch Scheme". Currently, the WHOA is pending final approval by the Dutch parliament and is expected to enter into force on 1 July 2020.

In September a draft bill was published for public consultation, pursuant to which a district court may be asked to confirm a restructuring plan between a company and its creditors and shareholders concerning the rescheduling and restructuring of debts to prevent bankruptcy. Confirmation from the district court results in the restructuring plan not only binding the creditors and shareholders involved, but also creditors and/or shareholders that have not voted in favour of the composition.

A revision of Dutch insolvency law is being considered to introduce a new scheme of arrangement process. The process, based on English law schemes of arrangement, is likely to have far-reaching consequences for both Dutch insolvency and finance law. 

FROM CREDITOR-CENTRIC TOWARDS DEBTORFOCUSSED INSOLVENCY LAW

It used to be the case that mortgage creditors could rest easy knowing they held a mortgage, and that they would be repaid with the proceeds of the sale of the mortgaged asset, even in the event of an insolvency.

Significant developments have taken place in the Spanish insolvency legal framework during 2014, focusing mainly on these areas:

On 01 November 2018, the President of Ukraine signed the Law "On Amendments to Certain Legal Acts of Ukraine on Resumption of Lending" (the “Law”) adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 03 July 2018. The Law eliminates most of legislative gaps that existed in the loan and mortgage legal environment of Ukraine.

In this connection the Law introduced several significant changes that can be considered as rather positive for borrowers, inter alia, it:

On April 15, 2019, President Petro Poroshenko signed the Code on Bankruptcy Proceedings. The text of the law was officially published on April 20 and is available in Ukrainian. The new law aims to strengthen the rights of creditors, improve the procedure of debtors’ assets sale at bankruptcy auctions, provide clear mechanisms for restoring solvency of debtors, and enhance the overall efficiency of bankruptcy proceedings.

The new law "On Financial Restructuring" No. 1414-VII dated 14 June 2016 ("Law") has recently been adopted by the Parliament of Ukraine. The Law came into force on 19 October and is effective until 16 October 2019. This appears to be a temporary measure to overcome a huge volume of non-performing loans in the Ukrainian lending space.

At last, a legislative light has appeared at the end of the long dark tunnel of Ukraine's financial sector.

Adopted on 14 June 2016 and published on 19 June 2016, Ukraine's new law "On Financial Restructuring" No. 1414-VII (the "Financial Restructuring Law") is effective for a period of only three years from 19 October 2016 until 19 October 2019.

The outbreak of coronavirus COVID-19 represents one of the most significant global public health crises in recent memory and is causing major disruption and unprecedented volatility in markets, economies and businesses. With such great social and economic uncertainty, it is inevitable that existing financial arrangements will be affected and asset-based lenders (ABLs) are not immune to this. They are, however, uniquely positioned – given the flexibility of the products they offer – to react to the ever-changing economic landscape.