Globalization has led to a marked increase in international components to insolvency proceedings. Cross-border issues add a new layer of complexity to what is often a situation already fraught with obstacles. Courts and practitioners alike face additional difficulties communicating with other courts, resolving issues consistently in jurisdictions with different laws and policy objectives, and enforcing rulings and implementing orders adjudicated extraterritorially.

Protecting your business from exposure to supplier and customer insolvency

The risk of unforeseen counterparty customer or supplier financial distress and failure amidst the on-going challenges for businesses from COVID-19 means that pre-emptive legal and operational protections against the risk of heavy financial loss or business disruption from customer/supplier failure are more valuable than ever.

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, a number of insolvency laws have been updated. Our guidance outlines what this means to businesses in 17 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

The on-going impact of the COVID-19 outbreak could have a significant impact on your global supply and customer chains. We can assist in responding to such risks in the various jurisdictions in which you operate, source materials and/or supply products and services.

Please click here for further information on the key warning signs and early action points.

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.

As the name suggests, the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency 1997 (Model Law) seeks to address complexities caused where insolvencies cross borders, while leaving substantive insolvency laws of each country largely unaltered. However, as jurisdictions continue to adopt and interpret the Model Law, inconsistencies in its application are coming to light.

This article appeared in Gulf Business on 22 June 2019

In a region where there has traditionally been an inherent stigma attached to business failure, the inevitable by-product is a decreased appetite for risk.

However, as the UAE’s economy has matured and become more global in its outlook, a more sophisticated and less risk-averse insolvency regime is required - one that can deal with volatile economic cycles and at the same time promote an entrepreneurial business environment.

Immediately following the results of the UK referendum on exiting the EU in June 2016, we wrote about the potential impact of Brexit on cross-border restructuring and insolvency work. As we identified then, the key issue in this area is the potentially significant implications of losing the reciprocal effect of the EU Regulation on insolvency proceedings and the Brussels Regulation (recast). In this article we focus on the impact of the loss of recognition under the Insolvency Regulation.

INSOL Europe attended the 52nd session of Working Group V (Insolvency law) held in Vienna from 18 to 22 December 2018 in its capacity as an invited international non-governmental organisation (NGO) with observer status. Other observers included, inter alia, World Bank, European Investment Bank, European Banking Federation, the American Bar Association, the International Bar Association, INSOL International, International Insolvency Institute, European Law Institute.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners Summer National Meeting, held on August 24 - 28 in San Diego, produced a number of noteworthy developments related to international, financial, and other regulatory matters. Many of these matters are interconnected on both public policy and technical grounds and involve a mixture of domestic and international political issues.