Clifford Chance
Singapore: The push to become Asia-Pacific's leading centre for debt restructuring
2 June 2016
Since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis corporate defaults have increased steadily, and law firms have reported an uptick in insolvency and restructuring work in the past few years.
To establish Singapore as a leading centre for international debt restructuring, the corporate rescue mechanisms under the Companies Act (Cap. 50) will be enhanced in the upcoming Omnibus Insolvency Bill, which consolidates Singapore's bankruptcy and corporate insolvency regimes.
In a further step to position Singapore to meet the anticipated increase in demand for restructuring services in the Asia-Pacific region, the Committee to Strengthen Singapore as an International Centre for Debt Restructuring (the Committee) was appointed by the Ministry of Law to recommend initiatives and legal reforms to cement Singapore's status as a leading centre from which to co-ordinate a multi-jurisdictional restructuring.
The Report of the Committee was released on 20 April 2016 with some interesting, and potentially game-changing, recommendations. We examine some of the key recommendations which, if implemented, will promote quick, cost-efficient restructurings with greater transparency and certainty as to outcome.
