COVID-19 Worldwide Financial Regulation and Policy Resources
Friday, May 1, 2020
Some interesting and helpful resources:
- General overview of Insolvency Law Reforms/Responses: https://www.derechoyfinanzas.org/en/insolvency-law-in-times-of-covid-19/
- INSOL International and the World Bank's Global Guide: an interactive map of measures adopted to support distressed businesses through the COVID-19 crisis
- The Yale Program on Financial Stability (YPFS) is tracking what governments across the world are doing in response to the crisis: https://som.yale.edu/faculty-research-centers/centers-initiatives/program-on-financial-stability/covid-19-crisis
- Tufts University shared with us new guidance put out by their institutions in response to COVID-19: https://sites.tufts.edu/flpfi/regulation-response-to-covid-19/
- This policy tracker summarizes the key economic responses governments are taking to limit the human and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as of end-March 2020: https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19/Policy-Responses-to-COVID-19#I
- Dutch law: https://resor.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/2020-03-23-Corona-related-measures-to-support-businesses-in-the-Netherlands-ID-198267-11.pdf
- French Law: https://www.clearygottlieb.com/news-and-insights/publication-listing/covid19-temporary-french-bankruptcy-law-adjustments
- German Law: https://www.twobirds.com/en/news/articles/2020/germany/covid-19-update-germany--german-government-enacts
- UK Law: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/regulations-temporarily-suspended-to-fast-track-supplies-of-ppe-to-nhs-staff-and-protect-companies-hit-by-covid-19
- United States Law: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/cares-act-offers-small-businesses-enhanced-opportunities-under-chapter-11-bankruptcy
- III Project on Extraordinary Restructuring Solutions: In the midst of the global financial crisis over a decade ago, the III launched a special project on "Extraordinary Restructuring Solutions." The idea behind the project was to develop a set of unconventional restructuring-oriented measures that could be applied on a systemic basis to deal with the extraordinary circumstances created by the global financial crisis. The project was led by Richard Gitlin and Steven Kargman, and the Committee consisted of III members from around the world, including Donald Bernstein (US), Thomas Felsberg (Brazil), Lucio Ghia (Italy), Stephen Gray (US), the late Bruce Leonard (Canada), Dr. Luis Manuel C. Mejan (Mexico), Christoph Paulus (Germany), George Seligman (UK), and the late Dr. Shinjiro Takagi (Japan). Briefly stated, the goal of the project was to lay out a range of potential solutions for addressing widespread financial distress in the real economy that could be adopted by jurisdictions around the world based on their specific needs and circumstances. The solutions revolved around four key features: first, establishing a special purpose institutional framework to coordinate out-of-court restructuring activities; second, mobilizing interim or bridge financing to support restructuring activities; third, mobilizing restructuring talent and expertise to handle a potential surge in restructurings; and fourth, instituting expedited out-of-court restructuring procedures to deal with the potential widespread financial distress in the corporate sector. Attached are the following background materials on this III project on Extraordinary Restructuring Solutions. We thought that these materials from the III's project on Extraordinary Restructuring Solutions, developed at the time of the last major financial and economic crisis in 2008-09, might be of interest to III members in light of the major financial and economic challenges posed by the current coronavirus pandemic:
- a brief article in International Corporate Rescue describing the project generally
- a PowerPoint presentation laying out some of the principal features of the project, and
- an article in Norton Annual Review of International Insolvency providing an overview of the project as well as descriptions of certain detailed proposals that were developed at the time by Stephen Gray/Marko Mitrovic, Dr. Mejan, and Dr. Takagi.