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INSOL Europe news and offers
February 2021

Dear Members

Spring is on its way finally and with more sun and warmth we can be a little bit more optimistic about the end of the Corona crisis, now that the vaccination programs have really picked up speed. I do hope you are all still holding on, although I realize it has become increasingly difficult to follow the COVID-19 rules in your respective countries. Remember, there is always a light in the dark hallway we are still in.

First of all, this newsletter contains a report on the highly successful Fraud Advisory Panel, INSOL Europe Anti-Fraud Forum and R3 First Joint Virtual Fraud Conference of 2 & 3 February 2021 "Preparing for the new world: A toolkit for action”. Excellent presentations were followed by lively discussions and a record number of 177 participants registered. A huge thank you to Carmel King (Grant Thornton, UK) and Bart Heynickx (ALTIUS, Belgium), co-chairs of the INSOL Europe Anti-Fraud Forum, R3 and the Fraud Advisory Panel that made this event such a success.

As our first INSOL Europe related Spring action, please make sure to register for our 2021 Spring Online Conference, to be held on Thursdays 4 and 18 March 2021. Only a few days away therefore before the fun starts! Check out this newsletter for detailed information on the programme. Our Conference Co-Chairs Clarissa Nitsch (Co-Chair of the Young Members Group / Binder Groesswang Attorneys at Law, Austria) and John Briggs (South Square, UK), Facilitator Chris Laughton (Mercer & Hole, UK) and panellists are all excited and geared up to give you a great online experience.

Our new series of “Coffee Breaks: Connecting Minds 2021” in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and its Legal Transition Programme (LTP), had a super start with excellent videos on developments in Latvia, Portugal, Finland and France, whilst the preparations for further sessions are on their way. Many thanks to Alice van der Schee as overall Country Coordinator, our local country coordinators and our Technical Director Emmanuelle Inacio for their continuous support for this project.

In the past years, INSOL Europe has deepened its long-lasting relationship with its sister organisation INSOL International. On Thursday 15 April 2021, INSOL Europe and INSOL International will celebrate their reunion in a Joint Online Seminar. Please put a placeholder in your diaries and make sure to register timely.

As I informed you by earlier separate email, the 2021 Dublin Congress was postponed to allow you all to meet each other live in Dublin on 3-6 March 2022. I am very pleased to announce that the two Co-Chairs Barry Cahir (Beauchamps, Ireland) and Giorgio Corno (Studio Corno Avvocati, Italy) and the entire Technical Committee will remain “on board” and have agreed to organise our Dublin Congress in 2022. Moreover, they also agreed to be responsible for the technical programme of our Autumn Online Conference, which INSOL Europe will organise in October 2021 to stay connected with you all and bridge the gap until Spring 2022. 

You will also find in this newsletter updates on our other new initiatives. 

Many thanks to all those who contributed to this newsletter and I hope you will have an enjoyable time when reading it.

Do visit INSOL Europe’s website to stay up to date with our initiatives. 

Please stay safe, healthy and be careful! 

Marcel Groenewegen
President INSOL Europe

 

  

Marcel Groenewegen
President of
INSOL Europe

 

This issue is kindly sponsored by:
 

LETT

DLA Piper is a global law
firm with lawyers located
in more than 40 countries throughout the world.
www.dlapiper.com
2021 Spring Online Conference - Register today!

Download the full conference programme here!

Our 2021 Spring Online Conference: 'Don't Worry, Restructure!' is open for registration and starts very soon! There will be two sessions (4 & 18 March) held on Zoom, each lasting 1.5 hours, both facilitated by Chris Laughton (Mercer & Hole, UK).

Conference Co-Chairs Clarissa Nitsch (Co-Chair of the Young Members Group / Binder Groesswang Attorneys at Law, Austria) and John Briggs (South Square, UK) have prepared a fascinating programme which is not to be missed! The live panels will feature a hand-picked selection of international experts speaking on a range of highly relevant and important topics:

  • Don’t worry, transpose the EU Directive on Restructuring and Insolvency
  • Aviation in crisis: Emergency Exit
  • Jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement under Brexit
  • Experiences on the front line – insolvency practice in the pandemic

We are also very pleased to announce William Keegan and Professor Georg E. Kodek as Keynote Speakers for this conference.

Registration will be €50+VAT for members or €75+VAT for non-members. 
A certificate of attendance will be available for those attending the full conference.

Visit our website for the latest updates and to register your place!

Kindly Sponsored by
Joint Virtual Fraud Conference Report

The first Virtual Fraud Conference took place on 2 and 3 February 2021, attracting more than 150 participants from jurisdictions all over the EU.  The Fraud Conference was co-organised by R3, the UK Fraud Advisory Panel and INSOL Europe’s Anti-Fraud Forum. Report by Carmel King and Bart Heynickx, co-chairs of the Anti-Fraud Forum. 
 
Over two days, the conference provided over 15 live and on-demand sessions, joining more than 30 highly renowned speakers from a wide variety of institutions including the Cabinet Office, UNODC, HMRC, NCA, BBC, the House of Lords, Transparency International, the SFO, the EPPO and a range of chambers, legal and professional advisory firms. INSOL Europe’s own Marcel Groenewegen, Stephane Bonifassi and Hector Sbert kindly contributed their expertise.
 
Day one kicked off with a lively debate on the Changing Nature of Financial Crime in a Post-Covid world, chaired by Frances Coulson and discussing the challenges and new fraud schemes developed or further expanded during the current pandemic. Also in relation to the pandemic, Carmel King brought together a panel to talk about Deepfakes and Misinformation, a problem that, unfortunately, keeps on growing. A third session, scheduled just prior to some (online) networking and exhibitions, considered how to Make Fraudsters Pay: The Counter-Fraud Practicioner’s Toolkit, where an international panel reviewed the best and most efficient tools to block fraudsters and seize their assets, and this as well from a public sector point of view as from the private sector, with Bart Heynickx as a moderator. The first day closed with a session on Tackling Rogue Companies, presided over by Frances Coulson. During the evening, some participants enjoyed an online wine-tasting session.
 
The second day opened with the biggest fraud of the century (so far), OneCoin, and assembled, under Carmel King’s guidance, both the BBC-reporter that uncovered the heist (Jamie Bartlett), a OneCoin-victim and a crypto-currency specialist that had been approached to work for OneCoin and set-up their block-chain. A fascinating story unravelled. The next panel covered the future on Tackling Economic Crime. The final two live sessions, focused on the digital point of view with Frances Coulson chairing a session on Secret Agents, Smart Contracts and Crypto-Assets and Bart Heynickx on Digital Forensics. The digital world provides for more tools and opportunities, but also for more related fraud. The Digital Forensics session talked about technical and legally acceptable tools to unravel such fraud and bring criminals to justice.
 
During breaks and after the conference, participants could also enjoy a number of pre-recorded sessions, going into the related topics in more detail and providing further valuable input. 

Last chance to purchase On-demand Sessions
All live and pre-recorded sessions are still available on the conference platform until 1 April 2021. If you have not already registered, visit the conference website and use the following codes to purchase your ticket before 1 March at the special member rates:

INSOL Europe Members: INSOLCONF21; Young Members: NewINSOL21
Date for your diary: INSOL International Joint Seminar 2021

We are pleased to announce that our joint INSOL Europe and INSOL International Online Seminar is now being prepared for April 2021. There will be two different sessions (AM & PM) held on Zoom, each lasting approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes. Each session will feature a Keynote speaker and a live panel session with a hand-picked selection of European and international experts speaking on a range of highly relevant and important topics. 

Registration will be £30 for members of INSOL Europe. 

More details will be posted on our website when available. If you have any queries, please contact Event Manager, Harriet Taylor. 
 
For information about the sponorship opportunities for this event, please contact Sponsorship Manager, Hannah Denney for details.

In the meantime, keep your diary free for these special events!

Benefits of INSOL Europe Membership

  • Discounted rates for our conferences and online events
  • Free access to our Web series – Coffee Breaks: Connecting Minds 2021
  • Free digital copies of publications in the INSOL Europe Technical Series including "The European Communication & Cooperation Guidelines for Cross-Border Insolvency."
  • Free copies of Eurofenix, INSOL Europe's popular quarterly journal
  • Discounted advertising rates for you and your business in Eurofenix
  • Opportunities to join working groups, write articles for our newsletters and website
  • Weekly emails with top European insolvency news items
  • Access to the INSOL Europe European Insolvency Regulation Case Register now hosted by LexisNexis
  • Access to a tracker of insolvency reforms globally produced by Lexis Nexis in partnership with INSOL Europe
  • Privileged website access to password protected members' areas which includes:
    • Glossaries of Terms relevant to insolvency laws of most European countries
    • A downloadable version of the Membership Database
    • Material from the Eastern European Countries' Committee
    • Current edition of Eurofenix in PDF format
    • Forthcoming papers by the Academic Forum
    • INSOL Europe's Financial Statements
  • Discounted rate for the INSOL International conferences
  • Discount of 25% off INSOL International’s Foundation Certificate in International Insolvency Law
  • Free copies of INSOL International's quarterly newsletter, "INSOL World", together with their annual Membership Directory and technical releases.
Visit our website for more details or contact Membership Manager, Hannah Denney.

 

INSIDE Story: Pre-Packs in the UK - Nothing new under the sun!

The English corporate insolvency framework has gone through significant changes in recent times. Some of these changes have been introduced as soon as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK economy became apparent. Nevertheless, last summer the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (the Act), which completed its progress in the Parliament and received Royal Assent on 25 June 2020, coupled these temporary measures with long-term reforms and regulatory powers to significantly amend the UK corporate insolvency framework.

Similar to other countries, the UK introduced some emergency legislation aimed at suspending statutory demands and restricting winging-up petitions, as well as the liability for wrongful trading. At the same time, with the Act, Parliament took the opportunity to introduce some long-discussed and more permanent changes to the corporate insolvency framework. These include the introduction of a short free-standing company moratorium, a new restructuring plan procedure (known as “part 26A restructuring plan”) modelled after the successful schemes of arrangement (but with a cross-class cram-down!), and a general ban on the enforceability of ipso facto clauses. Eugenio Vaccari, Lecturer, Department of Law and Criminology, Royal Holloway and Bedford Colleges, University of London, UK, reports. Read the full story and other articles here.

If you would like the opportunity to have your Inside Story published in a future edition, please email Communications Manager, Paul Newson for details.
Coffee Breaks: Connecting Minds 2021

Our Coffee Breaks: Connecting Minds 2021 series continues with our popular video conversation format established in 2020.

This year, the INSOL Europe Country Coordinators will share their experiences with representatives from their local associations, highlighting the reforms and challenges of the national insolvency framework to address the current crisis and other key issues in their jurisdiction.

Watch the new videos here from Latvia, Portugal, Finland and France.

Coffee Breaks: Connecting Minds 2021 are brought to you in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and its Legal Transition Programme (LTP). The LTP is the EBRD’s initiative to contribute to the improvement of the investment climate in the Bank’s countries of operations by helping create an investor-friendly, transparent and predictable legal environment. This objective is implemented by the Legal Transition Team, a dedicated team of specialised lawyers working across the 38 economies where the EBRD invests.

If you would like to sponsor a Coffee Break video in 2021, please contact Hannah Denney, Sponsorship Manager, for details.

Watch the latest videos here

 

In partnership with:
EIR Case Register update: Now over 770 abstracts

One of the benefits of membership of INSOL Europe is free access to the European Insolvency Regulation Case Register, housed on the Lexis library. With EC case law, decisions of the CJEU bind all Member States, though where the CJEU has given limited guidance on a particular area, courts may look to decisions of other courts in the Member States for guidance, although they will not be binding. 

The INSOL Europe Case Register contains summaries of judgments from the CJEU and first instance and appeal courts of the EU Member States, that consider a significant point relating to the EC Regulation on Insolvency or, from 26 June 2017 onwards, the Recast Regulation. 

In 2020, 49 new abstracts were uploaded, from 5 jurisdictions (including the CJEU), making the total number of abstracts 772.

The Case Register committee is supported by a dedicated team of national contributors. All abstracts are published in English and are academically moderated by Professor Reinhard Bork and Dr Kristen van Zwieten.

Details about the Case Register can be found on the LexisNexis website.
 
Dates for your diary: Spring 2021

As well as the events mentioned above, there are a few new events coming up in the next few weeks to put into your diary:

  • 1 March - 8 March: IWIRC and III 'Women at the Forefront of International Insolvency Symposium' featuring 6 panels focusing on International Insolvency issues.  With over 30 women from 20 different countries on the panels, this is a first of its kind symposium. Further information here.
  • The 19th edition of the Private Equity Exchange & Awards will be held on 4 March 2021. This year, the first time the event will be held online, one of the key speakers will include INSOL Europe's Vice President, Barry Cahir, with a presentation on "Reshaping Debt Structures". For more information visit the PEX Conference Website.
  • 8 March - International Women's Day: There will be a very special leadership panel with seven of the female Chairs/Presidents of the leading insolvency associations including Piya Mukherjee, INSOL Europe's immediate past-president. Further information here.

 

We welcome feedback, news and story ideas for future newsletters. 

Please send your suggestions to Paul Newson, Communications Manager,
email: paulnewson@insol-europe.org.
INSOL Europe, PO Box 7149, Clifton, Nottingham. NG11 6WD
www.insol-europe.org
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Disclaimer: This newsletter is sent to members of INSOL Europe. No responsibility legal or otherwise is accepted by INSOL Europe for any errors, omissions or otherwise. The opinions expressed in the articles that appear are not necessarily shared by any representative of INSOL Europe.