Synopsis

Financial institutions face unprecedented challenges and opportunities from the recent Insolvency Law reforms in Singapore. The secured creditor is no longer supreme. The difficult creditor can no longer hold things up for better terms. The debtor now has more legislative protection in addition to the advantages that the regional jurisdictions have afforded it. What does this all mean for the financial institutions? The significant changes to the law are expected to enhance Singapore’s position as an international centre for debt restructuring. That will attract new business players, risks, and transformations to the banking and lending landscape.

To help the FI in-house counsel navigate these changes, Dentons Rodyk has pulled together from its own global talent pool, a panel of leading insolvency experts from Dentons US, UK and Australia who will provide a comparative perspective and share “war stories” from their jurisdictions, whose provisions have in part inspired the reforms to Singapore’s insolvency law.

Each half day roundtable session (with no more than 30 in house counsel) will focus on the most pressing issues under the new law, drawing guidance from our US and UK partners and deal with how financial institutions can minimize risks while capitalizing on opportunities. The issues include:

• How the secured creditor’s rights are affected by new provisions involving super priority for rescue financing, cram downs, extended moratoriums, and other restrictions?
• Whether financial institutions can contract out of super-priority provisions for rescue financing?
• What contractual provisions can be adopted to limit risks created by the new reforms?
• How other jurisdictions (in particular the US) have dealt with these issues and whether Singapore law will develop in the same way?
• How will the application of the UNCITRAL Model law on Cross-Border Insolvencies affect financial institutions operating in Singapore?
• The Australian perspective on the Singapore reforms