Expert urges shake-up of insolvency laws

As the financial crisis pushes more companies to the brink of bankruptcy, the region’s insolvency laws need to be modernised and harmonised, says a report due out today.

The report compiled by Hawkamah, a non-profit organisation based in Dubai that promotes higher standards of corporate governance in the region, urges more robust and better-integrated legal systems as the financial crisis enters a new phase in which more insolvencies are possible. .

“The purpose is to improve insolvency regimes and creditor rights in order to mitigate the results of the financial crisis and be better prepared the next time there is a crisis,” Nasser Saidi, the executive director of Hawkamah and the chief economist at the Dubai International Financial Centre, said yesterday.