On 20 May, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) introduced the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill to Parliament.

The Coronavirus (Scotland) (No2) Bill was passed on 20 May, gained royal assent on 26 May and came into force 27 May. This will be known as The Coronavirus (Scotland) (No. 2) Act.

Why do we need another Act?

The latest news and developments in retail mortgage lending and regulation.

This month in summary:

News

Government updates on the pandemic

There have been a number of updates that will affect lenders in respect of the pandemic. The key stories are:

What is it and what has changed?

Wrongful trading is a term that has received quite a bit of press over the last few months, mainly through the headlines generated by the UK Government’s unprecedented amendment to the wrongful trading provisions contained within our insolvency legislation.

But what exactly is wrongful trading and what has changed?

This is inevitably a challenging time for many company directors throughout Northern Ireland and beyond. Businesses have been faced with a quite unprecedented set of social and economic circumstances due to the Covid-19 pandemic and now, as lockdown has eased and restrictions begin to be lifted, the focus turns to how those businesses that have been most severely impacted by this crisis will evolve. Directors are no doubt busy strategising how to best ensure their company’s immediate short term stability and in time their longer term growth and prosperity.

In a recent virtual speech, Chair of the FCA, Charles Randell observed that some of the debt businesses have incurred in the Covid-19 crisis will become unaffordable and that lenders and regulators will need to tackle this overhang of debt quickly and fairly to prevent it becoming a drag on the economy. With an eye to the past, Mr Randall noted that the industry could not repeat the events of the 2008 crisis where the treatment of some SME customers caused serious damage to the trust in financial services institutions and in some cases to customers themselves.

The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill (the “Bill”) is finally out (all 238 pages of it!) and due to have its second reading in Parliament on 3 June. The expectation is that it will pass without debate and, as such, we need to ask ourselves: what does it all mean? The first thing to note is that the Bill deals with both temporary measures that are necessary and linked to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as those that are here to stay and that have been on the radar since the Government’s consultation ended in 2018.

Brexit’s transition process will pose a number of challenges for businesses. We have created this tracking tool to help our clients manage and avoid issues as new developments take shape. Over the coming months, we will continue updating this tool to include additional information and topics that come to light. By tracking developments and explaining how they impact businesses like yours, we will help you assess your position and determine your priorities as we move to the end of the transition period.

Voluntary measures to scrutinise pre-pack sales to connected parties have not been enough to alleviate creditor concerns, says the Government. A new regulatory framework governing connected party sales in administration will be put in place before the end of June 2021. Draft regulations were published on 8 October 2020.

Suppliers can no longer rely on contractual terms entitling them to terminate a contract on the grounds of a corporate customer’s insolvency (ipso facto clauses) in most cases. This prohibition was introduced by the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act which came into force on 26 June 2020 (the Act). This briefing looks at the changes suppliers may need to make to their contracts, as well as to their credit and enforcement strategies, in light of this prohibition.

What does the new law do?