The European Restructuring Directive


Book Description

This comprehensive book provides a clear analysis of the European Restructuring Directive, which aims to improve national frameworks governing business restructuring and insolvency as well as to provide debt relief for individuals. Gerard McCormack explores the key aspects of the Directive including the moratorium on litigation and enforcement claims against the financially-troubled business, the provision for new financing, the division of creditors into classes, the introduction of a restructuring plan and the rules for approval of the plan by a court or administrative authority.




Restructuring and Insolvency in Europe: Policy Options in the Implementation of the EU Directive


Book Description

The Directive on Restructuring and Insolvency sets minimum standards for restructuring and certain insolvency matters, but its harmonization effect will be limited given multiple options for implementation, likely leading to divergent restructuring models in Europe. These options reveal different policy approaches to the regulation of restructuring and insolvency. The analysis in this paper aims to illustrate the breadth of the policy choices and their consequences for restructuring activity. States should carefully design restructuring procedures to avoid the negative economic effects of certain options that could undermine creditors’ rights or result in unpredictable outcomes, particularly in cross-border cases.







Research Handbook on Corporate Restructuring


Book Description

This timely Research Handbook examines the increasingly economically vital topic of corporate restructuring. Reflecting a shift in the global approach to insolvency towards a focus on rescuing viable businesses rather than liquidation, chapters consider all areas of the law closely connected to corporate insolvency, rehabilitation and rescue, as well as the introduction of the EU Preventive Restructuring Directive and other reforms from around the world.




A Strategy for Resolving Europe's Problem Loans


Book Description

Europe’s banking system is weighed down by high levels of non-performing loans (NPLs), which are holding down credit growth and economic activity. This discussion note uses a new survey of European country authorities and banks to examine the structural obstacles that discourage banks from addressing their problem loans. A three pillared strategy is advocated to remedy the situation, comprising: (i) tightened supervisory policies, (ii) insolvency reforms, and (iii) the development of distressed debt markets.




European Insolvency Law


Book Description

Critically analysing the substantive law of insolvency in the EU countries as a whole, this book carries out horizontal cross-cutting analysis of the data gathered from a study of national insolvency laws. It selects particular areas for detailed discussion and considers the pros and cons of particular legislative solutions.




Creditor Priority in European Bank Insolvency Law


Book Description

This book provides the first comprehensive treatment of creditor priority in European bank insolvency law. Following reform in the wake of the global financial crisis, EU law requires that Member States have in place bank-specific insolvency frameworks. Creditor priority-the order in which different creditors bear losses should a bank fail-differs substantially between bank-specific and general insolvency law. The bank-specific creditor priority framework aims to ensure that banks can enter insolvency proceedings without disrupting financial stability. The book provides a systematic and thorough account of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive and other EU legislation that governs creditor priority in bank resolution and liquidation proceedings, and their interaction with national law. The framework is analysed from several perspectives, including comparison with creditor priority in English, German and Norwegian general insolvency law. Moreover, the book places the evolution of the framework and its justifications within the broader post-crisis shifts in bank regulation, and critically examines the assumptions that underlie these developments. Finally, the book discusses how this area of law could evolve in the future.




Insolvency Prospects Among Small-and-Medium-Sized Enterprises in Advanced Economies


Book Description

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased insolvency risks, especially among small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which are vastly overrepresented in hard-hit sectors. Without government intervention, even firms that are viable a priori could end up being liquidated—particularly in sectors characterized by labor-intensive technologies, threatening both macroeconomic and social stability. This staff discussion note assesses the impact of the pandemic on SME insolvency risks and policy options to address them. It quantifies the impact of weaker aggregate demand, changes in sectoral consumption patterns, and lockdowns on firm balance sheets and estimates the impact of a range of policy options, for a large sample of SMEs in (mostly) advanced economies.




Principles of European Insolvency Law


Book Description

In the past decades, many Member States of the European Union have introduced important new legislation in the field of insolvency law. Principles of European Insolvency Law tries to capture the common elements that national insolvency laws share and that make up the essence of insolvency proceedings in Europe. It makes a first, and, so far, unique attempt, to tackle an area of law which is of great commercial importance, but in which some might have thought it was too difficult to detect a European approach. Principles of European Insolvency Law looks to a future of more European integration in areas of commercial law and practice. They may serve as working material for further study, which could result in proposals for legislation on a supranational level. In the shorter term, the Principles will be of use in efforts to modernise national insolvency laws by serving as a 'European framework'. Taking account of the Principles in drafting reform proposals can lead to a greater conformity of new national legislation with the essence of European insolvency law.




From Bail-out to Bail-in


Book Description

Staff Discussion Notes showcase the latest policy-related analysis and research being developed by individual IMF staff and are published to elicit comment and to further debate. These papers are generally brief and written in nontechnical language, and so are aimed at a broad audience interested in economic policy issues. This Web-only series replaced Staff Position Notes in January 2011.