Corporate Insolvencies to Drop Following Appeal Court Ruling

A ruling by the Supreme Court in London could lead to a reduction in corporate insolvencies and stop creditors from chasing struggling businesses. Earlier this month, the Court of Appeal rejected a lawsuit by shareholders from British finance company Eurosail who claim the firm should be liquidated after buying £650m of UK mortgage-backed bonds from…

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Office of Fair Trading’s Insolvency Recommendations are Long Overdue

Last month, the Insolvency Service released a review paper on the regulation of insolvency practitioners (IPs) and asked the public for feedback. The consultation, which can be read here, follows an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) investigation into corporate insolvency and practitioner fees. The investigation found inconsistencies in the way complaints about IPs were handled…

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Top UK Director Sir Clive Thompson Facing Disqualification Proceedings

The Insolvency Service (IS) is to launch disqualification proceedings against one of Britain’s leading businessmen, Sir Clive Thompson, over his role in the failure of Christmas savings club Farepack, according to the Daily Mail newspaper. More than 116,000 people lost a total of £40m when Farepack collapsed in 2006 – after lending around £35m to…

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Premier League and HMRC Court Battle Set for 15 February

HMRC and Premier League

Next month, HMRC and the Football Association Premier League will battle in court over the taxman’s claim that the ‘football creditor rule’ is unlawful. Under the football creditor rule, when a club enters administration creditors such as players and managers are paid in full, whilst any remaining money is divided between unsecured creditors including HMRC. Football as…

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What’s More Important: Managing Debt or Bad Practice?

Last year, I advised a company that went bust owing £100,000. The Insolvency Service sought to have the company’s director disqualified, but he couldn’t understand why as his liabilities dwarfed the sums owed by other companies. I explained that he faced prosecution because of his conduct rather than the size of his debt. You may…

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