At the recent Fraud Advisory Panel’s Fraud Conference (23 April), a distinguished panel from INSOL Europe explored the pressing question of liability in investment fraud cases. The session featured Bart Heynickx (Altius, Belgium; Co-chair, INSOL Europe Anti-Fraud Forum), Frances Coulson (Wedlake Bell, UK; Deputy President, INSOL Europe), Enda Lowry (Teneo, Ireland), and Caroline Ievers (Grant Thornton, UK).

The panel began by examining prevalent fraud schemes facilitated through digital platforms, such as phishing scams and fraudulent activity on Facebook Marketplace. Frances Coulson provided an overview of the UK’s legal landscape, highlighting key provisions of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 and its potential implications for combating digital fraud.

Enda Lowry and Caroline Ievers then discussed the role of insolvency proceedings as a tool to combat fraud. They outlined the investigatory powers available to liquidators in both the UK and Ireland, with a particular focus on victim compensation and the avenues available to victims of Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud in the UK and similar compensation schemes in Ireland.

The session concluded with a discussion on public education and awareness initiatives, and the broader political and regulatory challenges. The panel concluded that the recent legislative changes were a good start in the UK to make the environment fraud-hostile, but emphasised the need for stronger political will and better resourcing to ensure that the legislation has teeth and makes a real difference. 

In 2024 we observed two growing trends in Poland. Namely, there was a rapidly growing number of two insolvency proceedings: restructuring proceedings, mainly arrangement approval proceedings, and consumer bankruptcy proceedings, writes Paweł Kuglarz and Mateusz Kaliński, LL.M. (Tatara & Partners, Krakow/Warsaw).

With regard to consumer bankruptcy, the number of more than 20,000 consumer bankruptcies was reached in 2024 – and precisely 21,187 bankruptcies have been declared by the court. This number has been steadily growing in the first months of 2025 and this may be the trend for Poland for this year, too. 

It seems that Polish citizens are no longer afraid of a fresh start and they eagerly apply for consumer bankruptcy. In our opinion, this is surely good news, but one factor needs consideration. Due to this trend Polish Bankruptcy and Restructuring Courts are overloaded. The insolvency law requires that each case must be treated individually and AI so far does not help to improve the situation. As a rule, judges have in their files on top of regular non-restructuring cases, a significant number of very complex consumer bankruptcy cases, which are even more absorbing, because consumers demand speed and an instantaneous resolution of their matter, which obviously is not a viable option for an overburdened court. Although the legislator hoped to alleviate this burden by transferring part of the administrative obligations and case management duties onto insolvency practitioners in 2020, it has not been enough. 

Apparently, the main reason why this reform did not work as planned was the unfortunate ‘overnight’ introduction of the KRZ system (the Central Insolvency Register; an ICT system dedicated to managing digital insolvency cases), which affected significantly the speed and effectiveness of the proceedings. Poland failed to duly prepare for the digital revolution in its insolvency courts, giving them merely a few months to implement it. Other member states took the time to run pilot schemes and prepare the court officers and judges to use the ICT systems. Currently in Poland this is the only avenue for communication with the court for the debtors. Even though the consumer may decide to file a paper petition personally with the court, still they must use the malfunctioning ICT system for any further communication or exchange with the court in the proceedings.

Please note that it was the Allerhand Institute and the Association of Insolvency Judges that applied to the Ministry of Justice to order an interim measure to alleviate the problem and allow for the possibility to conduct the proceedings in the traditional paper version. This application has so far been ignored.

With regard to arrangement approval proceedings, 4003 proceedings were opened in Poland in 2024, accounting for over 90% of all restructuring proceedings. In total, 1794 corporate insolvency petitions were submitted and 554 insolvencies were declared. Petitions dismissed account for 347 cases whereas pre-pack applications account for 73 cases, with 21 court-approved sale conditions.

Within other restructuring proceedings, 3296 arrangement approval applications were submitted and 3786 arrangements were approved, with only 318 dismissed applications. 

The growing number of arrangement approval proceedings clearly demonstrate that this restructuring option is so popular for a number of reasons. To name but two, the proceedings are mainly out-of-court (the court is involved at the stage of approval of the arrangement concluded between the debtor and the creditors) and the enforcement of debts is suspended (stay of enforcement).

To date we have proposed a serious reform to change the structure of insolvency courts. Its main objective is to separate business insolvency cases from consumer bankruptcy cases and to transfer business insolvency departments from the district level (lower court) to the regional level (higher court). The consumer bankruptcy departments would remain at the district level (lower court). Please find the details of this proposal here.

Summing-up, the Polish insolvency market is growing in numbers and the arrangement approval proceedings remain the most popular, accounting for more than 90% of all cases. We hope to have the Second Chance Directive implemented soon, but in our view more reforms are needed, as outlined above. 

Read further updates from Poland and other jurisdictions on our website here.

The twentieth INSOL Europe Academic Forum Conference, held in October 2024, explored the theme “The Evolution or Revolution of European Insolvency Law” with papers from the event compiled in this volume. 

The book opens with Prof. Stefania Bariatti’s keynote on the historical and legal development of the European Insolvency Regulation, followed by contributions examining pre-pack procedures, cross-border insolvency comparisons, and the impact of climate change and ESG considerations on insolvency frameworks. It concludes with a critique of the European Commission’s approach to harmonising directors’ duties. The volume captures current debates and evolving perspectives on EU insolvency law.

The book is published online and is available as a free download for members. Visit our website here to download this and our previous publications.

The successful applicant will be asked to write a paper of 3,000 words on a subject of insolvency or turnaround agreed with the panel. This paper will be published in summary in one or more of the four Member Associations' journals and in full on their websites. The winner will be invited to attend the INSOL Europe Annual Congress in Vienna, Austria, 9-11 October, expenses paid.

For more information and to apply, visit the Richard Turton Award page here.