[Webinar] Insolvency for Micro and Small Businesses — Global and Regional Perspectives

ABLI kicked off its first webinar of 2021 to discuss insolvency for micro, small and medium-sized businesses (“MSME”).

MSMEs represent the vast majority of businesses in most countries. However, most jurisdictions do not provide an attractive insolvency framework for these businesses. With COVID-19 hitting MSMEs the hardest, many countries are accelerating the process of implementing an efficient insolvency framework for them.

Co-organised with the Singapore Global Restructuring Initiative, this webinar provided an overview of the insolvency reforms for MSMEs happening in various countries globally, including Australia, Myanmar and Singapore. It also analyzed the primary policy recommendations suggested by the World Bank and UNCITRAL, as well as the role of lawyers, mediators, financial advisors and insolvency practitioners in the resolution of a situation of financial distress of MSMEs. Specifically:

• International initiatives for the treatment of MSMEs in insolvency, emphasising on the projects conducted by UNCITRAL and the World Bank
• New simplified insolvency and restructuring procedures for MSMEs in Australia and Singapore
• Insolvency framework for MSMEs in emerging economies: lessons from Myanmar
• Role and challenges of workouts in the context of MSMEs
• COVID-19 on MSMEs: Impact, challenges and strategies for the resolution of financial distress in MSMEs
• Insolvency and MSMEs: The role of lawyers, mediators, insolvency practitioners and financial advisors

The speaker line-up for this webinar included Scott Atkins, Chair, Head of Risk Advisory and Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright Australia; Aurelio Gurrea-Martínez, Assistant Professor of Law, Singapore Management University and Smitha Menon, Partner, WongPartnership.