Highlights
Agency updates
Hear firsthand from The Insolvency Service and Companies House into matters affecting the restructuring and insolvency profession.
Expertise
A range of first-class speakers providing both thought-leadership and highly informative sector specific insights.
Knowledge building
Understand what’s in store for the restructuring and insolvency profession in the future, and what can be done to establish and maintain your competitive edge.
CPD
Earn up to 5.5 hours of verifiable CPD by attending this event.
Programme
Please note the programme is subject to change.
Dress code: Relaxed (suits and hoodies both welcome, ties optional)
Day 1: Tuesday 24 June
- Opening remarksBecky Dacre, Chair, ICAEW Restructuring and Insolvency Advisory Committee and Restructuring Partner, Forvis Mazars
- 09:30
- The Insolvency Service updatePaul Bannister, Head of Policy at The Insolvency Service will provide a review of recent events and a forward look of the Agency’s operations, regulatory oversight work and policy development.
- 09:35
- Understanding the current economic environment for businesses and consumersAs UK and global economies face growing challenges amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty, this session will see Suren Thiru, Director of Economies at ICAEW, examine the influence of the challenges facing households and businesses, covering what you need to know about our economic prospects.
- 10:15
- Break
- 10:55
- Navigating business distress: leveraging data-driven insights for practice developmentIn today’s challenging economic landscape, distress is impacting businesses across all sectors. Restructuring and insolvency practitioners play a crucial role in providing the necessary support. Join Richard West, CEO at Red Flag Alert, and Dave Broadbent, Partner at Begbies Traynor, as they delve into the latest trends in business distress. This session will highlight how data-driven strategies can empower practitioners to develop smarter, forward-looking practice development plans, to help businesses navigate and mitigate the challenges ahead.
- 11:15
- Navigating restructuring and insolvency in financial services: strategies for success in this key regulated sectorJoin Adam Stephens, Partner at S&W, for an insightful session on navigating restructurings in the highly regulated financial services sector. He’ll explore the key options available, best practices for engaging with critical stakeholders like the Financial Conduct Authority and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, and the potential outcomes of different approaches. Through recent cases, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities in this complex landscape.
- 11:55
- Closing remarksBecky Dacre, Chair, ICAEW Restructuring and Insolvency Advisory Committee and Restructuring Partner, Forvis Mazars
- 12:35
Day 2: Wednesday 25 June
- Opening remarksTom Ahmad, Vice-Chair, ICAEW Restructuring and Insolvency Advisory Committee and Co-Founder, BABR
- 09:30
- The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 – an implementation updateHear from Lee Robins, Enforcement Service Manager on how this important piece of legislation provides Companies House with the power to play a more significant role in disrupting economic crime.
- 09:35
- FTX lessons learned: two years onThe collapse of FTX is now two years on and many creditors have started to receive recoveries. Creditors are expected to receive between 120-143 c/$ including post insolvency interest. The delivery of that outcome has required converging legally distinct Bahamas insolvency and US bankruptcy processes as well as dealing with significant legal and operational complexities in recovering assets, assessing creditor claims and otherwise managing the estate. Meanwhile the outlook for the digital assets market has whip-sawed in response to transatlantic political and regulatory developments. The liquidation team at PwC will discuss the legal, operational and technology innovations required to deal with the assets, estate and billions in creditor returns and the lessons learned for the future.
- 10:15
- Break
- 10:55
- Tackling director and corporate wrongdoingDave Magrath, Director for Investigation and Enforcement Service at The Insolvency Service of England and Wales, will discuss how the Insolvency Service is responding to director misconduct including an update on efforts to tackle Covid loan abuse.
- 11:15
- Casual dining - the boiling frog effectPhil Reynolds and Greg Carr from FRP Advisory will cover the current challenges in the restaurant and casual dining sector and how management teams should be proactive in identifying and addressing potential problems together with potential options to successfully restructure.
- 11:55
- Closing remarksTom Ahmad, Vice-Chair, ICAEW Restructuring and Insolvency Advisory Committee and Co-Founder, BABR
- 12:35
Conference Chairs
Becky is a licensed insolvency practitioner and chartered accountant with over 20 years of experience advising businesses in the Midlands and London. She helps owner-managed businesses and medium-sized companies across a wide range of sectors, with a particular specialism in healthcare providers, retail, automotive/aerospace, engineering and construction-related trades. Becky regularly advises on solvent restructuring and group rationalisation.
Tom is a chartered accountant, licensed insolvency practitioner and in 2007 co-founded BABR (formerly known as Bailey Ahmad Business Recovery). BABR specialises in delivering insolvency, commercial finance and debt recovery solutions to SMEs, funders and professionals.
Our speakers
Dave began working in the insolvency sector almost thirty years ago, becoming one of the country’s youngest appointment-taking Insolvency Practitioners in 2005. After working for a number of National firms, he created his own practice (Broadbents Business Recovery Services) in 2008 – seven years later, his business was purchased by Begbies Traynor, where he has been a Partner overseeing the York, Teesside and Darlington offices. Dave specialises in advising directors of small- to medium-sized owner-managed businesses, using the experience and skills obtained from within the sector, as well as those gained from running his own company.
Greg joined FRP’s Leeds office in 2013, and is a Director in the Restructuring Advisory team. He is a Chartered Accountant and has extensive experience in restructuring, with a particular focus on undertaking business reviews for management teams and funders, formulating business plans and financial projections, and contingency planning. More recently Greg has been involved with FRP’s work on restructuring plans, both advising plan companies and plan creditors.
Nicky is a Senior Associate in PwC's Restructuring and Insolvency Team, specialising in Data and Technology. Nicky has first-hand experience in leveraging innovative solutions to tackle complex global challenges in the insolvency space. Her expertise is in the use of data analytics and Generative AI in the transformation of large-scale insolvencies improving efficiency, strengthening security, and accelerating processes
Jason has 15 years’ experience in advising creditors, companies and regulators in navigating restructuring and insolvency situations. He has significant experience in financial services restructuring, resolution, wind down, non-core carve out and insolvency. Jason is currently working on the liquidation of FTX in the Bahamas. Jason’s wider restructuring advisory experience include Ambatovy, McColls, AS Adventure, Interserve, Thomas Cook plc, Co-Op Bank, Stemcor, OW Bunker and Lehman.
Ed is a restructuring partner with over 25 years’ experience and with significant expertise in financial services. He is one of the Lehman administrators, is heavily involved in the insolvency of FTX, led aspects of restructuring work for Co-op Bank at the time of its capital shortfall, is dealing with the run-off and residual issues of UKAR (Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock) and has worked across central and eastern Europe, Africa and the Caribbean region on various restructurings in financial services.
Dave has over 25 years of experience in law enforcement and currently serves as the Director of Investigation and Enforcement Services at The Insolvency Service. He leads teams across Great Britain that employ a range of civil and criminal powers to address financial misconduct by corporate entities and company directors. He oversees specialised functions, including Intelligence, Asset Recovery, and Digital Forensics. His department remains focused on addressing Covid-related fraud, expanding its response to support the enforcement of new Economic Crime powers, and establishing a team dedicated to anti-money laundering efforts.
Phil joined FRP in 2017 in the Restructuring Advisory team. He has over 20 years’ experience working in restructuring for major firms in the UK, the Middle East and south-east Asia, with a focus on the leisure, technology and retail sectors. Phil provides advice to lenders and other stakeholders, and has carried out and advised on a number of company voluntary arrangements. He also lectures for both the Association of Business Recovery Professionals and the Chartered Institute of Credit Management.
Lee has over 35 years' experience in Companies House. In January 2016 Lee worked on the People with Significant Control (PSC)/beneficial ownership legislation, setting up and leading the Companies House compliance efforts. In 2018 he was heavily involved in the UK’s successful FATF assessment and in 2019-20 he led the Companies House elements of the 5MLD transposition concerning discrepancy reporting. In his current role he is now working to implement the new powers and sanctions that have been introduced in the UK's Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 which include the biggest changes that Companies House has seen since 1844.
Adam is a partner and Insolvency Practitioner at S&W (previously known as Evelyn Partners). In his approaching 25 year career he has specialised in financial services restructurings, as well as not-for-profit enterprises. He has been special administrator under the IBSA regime four times, worked closely with many stakeholder bodies and conducted insolvencies on a range of regulated businesses including insurance brokers, wealth managers, e-money and e-payment firms, trade finance, banks, FX traders, critical IT suppliers, and commodity brokers. He is also one of the administrators of London Capital & Finance.
With over 20 years of experience specialising in macroeconomic and econometric analysis, Suren oversees ICAEW’s thought leadership and initiatives on the UK economy and is a regular media commentator. He supports delivery of ICAEW’s renowned Business Confidence Monitor and presents the latest economic trends at ICAEW events and for key stakeholders. Prior to joining ICAEW, he spent nine years heading the economics team at the British Chambers of Commerce.
Richard is the CEO of Red Flag Alert, a leading UK-based business data intelligence and analytics company. Joining the company in 2013, Richard has been instrumental in transforming it from a modest three-person operation in Stockport into a prominent player in the industry, now employing nearly 50 staff members in central Manchester. With over 15 years of experience in sales leadership across three continents, Richard has generated over £20 million in recurring revenue. His strategic vision and dedication have been pivotal in Red Flag Alert's growth, leading to the development of innovative technologies that predict financial distress, insolvency, and growth opportunities for businesses both domestically and internationally.
Testimonials
As usual this ICAEW conference has been excellent. It brings topical insolvency issues and communicates these to the insolvency community.
Overall, an excellent event. Splitting the conference over two mornings was a hit.
The virtual nature of the conference made it good value for money and time efficient whilst enabling a good update on current topics
Great range of issues covered with excellent insight on topical matters. Well worth attending.
Meet our partners
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Manolete Partners
Manolete Partners is a specialist insolvency litigation financing company. It works with insolvency practitioners and their lawyers to maximise returns to creditors.
Find out moreMarsh R&R
Marsh Restructuring & Recovery Practice has been helping Insolvency Professionals for over 30 years with insurance placements, bonds, claims resolutions, H&S guidance, and more
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