The Consumer Duty is one of the most significant pieces of regulation to land in the financial services industry for some time and represents a major shift in how firms will need to view customer outcomes and proactively address harm in the retail market. For Insolvency Practitioners (IPs) appointed over a regulated firm that has products within the scope of the duty, this will form part of the regulatory obligations with which the firm (and the IP) will need to ensure compliance.
2023 Restructuring & Insolvency Year in Review Year starts with fears of banking collapse contagion State-backed rescue deal for Credit Suisse announced 10 March 19 March Silicon Valley Bank, centred in California and focussed on funding venture capital and startups, was shut down by its local regulator on 10 March 2023 with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation appointed as receiver and the UK bank was sold to HSBC over the course of a weekend. Crypto-exposed Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank both followed suit – all within the span of five days.
Introduction
A recently published Bill proposes amendments to the existing collective redundancy regime in insolvency situations. If enacted, the Bill will deliver on key Programme for Government commitments detailed in the Plan of Action – Collective Redundancies following Insolvency.
As the festive season approaches, it is time to take stock of the three 2023 most important decisions of the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) on claw-back issues in insolvency.
1. Introduction
The recently reported decision of ICC Judge Greenwood in Grove Independent School Ltd, Re [2023] EWHC 2546 (Ch) (Grove) provides some clarity on the test to be applied by the court in deciding whether to exercise discretion to grant an order for a Part A1 moratorium. In this case, the company in question was also faced with a winding-up petition, presented by His Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
December 2023
The Right of Set-off in Insolvency Proceedings
MAYER BROWN | THE RIGHT OF SET-OFF IN INSOLVENCY PROCEEDINGS
The Bankruptcy Amendment (Discharge from Bankruptcy) Bill 2023 (“Bill”) has been agreed to by both the House of Representative and the Senate and will now be presented to the Governor-General.
The Bill seeks to amend the Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth) (“the Act”) to provide legal certainty on the calculation of bankruptcy discharge dates, aligning the Act with current practices, by confirming that the discharge date is determined from when the Statement of Affairs is accepted, rather than when it was initially presented.
Why the change?
This article explores the efficacy of the relatively new moratorium procedure introduced under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 and whether the existing domestic legislation already housed a more effective debtor-in-possession rehabilitative procedure in the form of the “light-touch” administration and if so, why it has thus far been largely overlooked.