Insolvency (Amendment and Consequential Provisions) Act, 2004

Summary

This is a lengthy amendment Act that makes over 170 individual textual and consequential changes to the BVI Insolvency Act, 2003, tidying up drafting errors and clarifying procedures for insolvency practitioners, companies and debtors. It also makes consequential amendments to several other BVI statutes (the Insurance Act, Mutual Funds Act, Financial Services Commission Act and International Business Companies Act) to align their winding-up and liquidation references with the new Insolvency Act regime.

• Arrangements: Clarifies rules on amending or withdrawing creditor arrangements and proposals, and sets a four week deadline for a creditor who did not participate in approval to apply after learning of an arrangement.
• Interim supervisors: Requires an interim supervisor to file notice of their appointment with the Official Receiver, and with the Commission if the debtor is a regulated person, within two business days of appointment.
• Administrators and liquidators: Updates rules on notice filing with the Registrar before court hearings, replaces the concept of a 'stay' of liquidation with 'termination' under section 233, and clarifies the role of administrators as officers of the court.
• Consequential changes: Amends the Insurance Act, Mutual Funds Act, Financial Services Commission Act and International Business Companies Act so that references to winding up, dissolution and liquidation align with liquidator appointments under the Insolvency Act, 2003, including for segregated portfolio companies and regulated persons.

The Act itself is largely technical, but several provisions create or tighten specific procedural obligations and short deadlines for insolvency practitioners and regulated persons dealing with the Financial Services Commission. It comes into force on a date or dates to be appointed by the Governor by Proclamation, not on a fixed date in the text.

Key obligations

• An interim supervisor must file a copy of the notice of their appointment with the Official Receiver, and with the Commission if the debtor is a regulated person, within two business days of appointment.
• A creditor who did not participate in approval of an arrangement may apply under section 43(9) or section 72(9) only within four weeks of first becoming aware of the arrangement.
• No application to challenge a company or debtor arrangement may be made after the arrangement has been completed or prematurely terminated, subject to the late-notice exception above.
• Notice of an administrator's appointment must be filed with the Registrar under section 118(1) no later than the day before the hearing of the application.
• A regulated person's liquidator or the regulated person itself must notify or apply to the Commission/Court in the circumstances specified in the amended Financial Services Commission Act section 37, including where a liquidator is appointed or the regulated person is dissolved.

Applies to

insolvency practitioners (supervisors, interim supervisors, administrators, liquidators), companies subject to arrangements or liquidation, debtors under Part III arrangements, regulated persons under the Financial Services Commission Act, insurance companies, mutual funds, segregated portfolio companies

Deadlines

• such date or dates as appointed by the Governor by Proclamation: Commencement of the provisions of this amendment Act.
• within two business days of appointment: Interim supervisor must file notice of appointment with the Official Receiver (and the Commission if the debtor is a regulated person).
• within four weeks of the creditor first becoming aware of the arrangement: Deadline for a non-participating creditor to apply under section 43(9) or section 72(9) after an arrangement's completion.
• no later than the day before the date of the hearing of the application: Filing of notice of an administrator's appointment with the Registrar under section 118(1), as required by amended section 79(3).

Related documents

• This document amends Mutual Funds Act, 1996