Includes developments in relation to: ESG; CRR; COVID-19; IFPR; Basel III; Securitisation Regulation; LIBOR; and EMIR.
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HEADLINES
AML changes for court-appointed liquidators
Important changes for court-appointed liquidators to the regulations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (Act) will come into force on 9 July 2021. These changes provide that, for a court-appointed liquidator:
Fallout from the global pandemic continues to throw light on the responsibilities of directors in times of financial distress. This briefing examines those duties in greater detail, particularly in relation to Guernsey’s company law.
Decisions, decisions
Directors owe duties to the companies they serve and ordinarily discharge those duties with reference to the interests of the companies’ members as a whole.
The application of sovereign immunity principles in bankruptcy cases has vexed the courts for decades. The U.S. Supreme Court’s opinions on the matter have not helped much. Although they have addressed the issue in specific contexts, they have not established clear guidelines that the lower courts may apply more generally. The Third Circuit took a crack at clarifying this muddy but important area of the law in the case of Venoco LLC (with its affiliated debtors, the “Debtors”).
Background
I. Supreme Court: Entries made in balance sheet amount to acknowledgement of debt for the purpose of extending limitation under Section 18 of the Limitation Act, 1963. The Hon’ble Supreme Court (“SC”) has in its judgment dated April 15, 2021 (“Judgement”), in the matter of Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Limited v. Bishal Jaiswal & Another [Civil Appeal No.323/2021], held that entries in balance sheets amount to acknowledgement of debt for the purpose of extending limitation under Section 18 of the Limitation Act, 1963 (“1963 Act”).
In Sun Electric Power Pte Ltd v RCMA Pte Ltd (formerly known as Tong Teik Pte Ltd) [2021] SGCA 60 (“Sun Electric”), the Singapore Court of Appeal (per Justice Judith Prakash) addressed in its written ground of decision (“GD”) the questions of: (i) what is the applicable test for the purpose of determining insolvency under s 254(2)(c) of the Companies Act (Cap 50, 2006 Rev Ed) (“Companies Act”); and (ii) who should be the appropriate party to control the conduct of the appeal, as well as to bear the responsibility of any costs incurred during and after the appeal, following a company’s right
With data privacy issues constantly in the news, what do businesses need to know about handling personal information when they’re considering bankruptcy, especially if some personal information – like customer records – may be a valuable asset?
In bankruptcy as in federal jurisprudence generally, to characterize something with the near-epithet of “federal common law” virtually dooms it to rejection.
Following a government announcement on 16 June, the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (Coronavirus) (Extension of the Relevant Period) (No. 2) Regulations 2021 (the Regulations) have been laid before Parliament, coming into force on 22 June.
This article first appeared in Offshore Red.
Guernsey is a jurisdiction that is well used to requests from foreign insolvency office holders for assistance in collecting in assets located in Guernsey. Occasionally these requests involve assistance in interviewing former directors of companies in an insolvency process.