In a global financial environment, insolvency office-holders will often need to look beyond their home jurisdictions in order to undertake their principal function of getting in and realising assets.
Within the EU this task is simplified by the detailed provisions of the Insolvency Regulation. Yet, despite the substantial financial activity that takes place in major offshore financial centres such as the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey (which, for convenience, we will name the Four Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories (CDOTs) many Europe-based insolvency professionals hold unduly pessimistic views of what can be achieved there. As the recent seminars hosted by INSOL Europe’s Anti-Fraud Forum have illustrated, such pessimism is often misplaced.