Different countries worldwide have their own insolvency and bankruptcy law but they don’t differ that much from the UK’s legal rules in respect of insolvency and bankruptcy.
The two principal objectives of insolvency and bankruptcy law are shared by most countries – (1) the allocation of risk in a predictable, equitable and transparent manner, and (2) to protect and maximise value for the benefit of all the interested parties and the economy.The allocation of risk in a predictable, equitable and transparent mannerThe objective is to ensure confidence in the UK’s credit system as well as to encourage economic growth for the benefit of all parties, in terms of the creditor-debtor relationship.
Essentially, insolvency and bankruptcy law entitles a creditor to start insolvency proceedings against a company or individual, lessens the risk of lending and, therefore increases credit availability.Insolvency law spreads the risk across creditors and benefits borrowers; so, where secured creditors are favoured in terms of the distribution of assets, or funds released from the sale of assets, it protects the value of security.
F/or debtors, this could be an important factor in that they may not be able to get unsecured credit but could get secured credit.
Let’s look at the three different aspects of predictability, equitability and transparency.Predictability – although this may vary in terms of policy in different countries, overall insolvency laws generally allocate the risk among the relevant parties, and this should be clearly set out in insolvency and bankruptcy laws.
The idea is to ensure the allocation of risk is predictable, as much as possible, to avoid uncertainty and increase confidence not only in the legal system, but also in terms of the willingness to grant credit.Equitability – a key aspect of insolvency and bankruptcy law is to deal with situations whereby insolvent companies and individuals that are unable to pay their creditors, and provide a method by which all creditors are treated in an equal way.