Hon Paul Goldsmith

Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
25 August 2016 Media Statement

Consultation on insolvency practitioner standards

Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Paul Goldsmith has today released part one of the review into insolvency law, which discusses and sets out recommendations on the regulation of insolvency practitioners and measures to address the harms of voluntary liquidations.

“I set up the Insolvency Working Group in November 2015 to conduct an in-depth look into a variety of insolvency law matters.

“This is the first of two reports the working group will publish and it has identified a number of areas where our corporate insolvency laws could be improved.

“The working group considers that regulation falls short of ensuring creditors can have confidence that the practitioners handling corporate insolvency are qualified and bound by an acceptable code of ethics.

“The report states the current requirements in place to become an insolvency practitioner are very low and includes a recommendation to license and regulate insolvency practitioners: a significant policy shift. It documents several cases of practitioner dishonesty, incompetence and failures to manage conflicts of interest by insolvency practitioners.

“The report includes a number of recommendations, all of which I am giving serious consideration to. In order to assess the full regulatory impact of the recommendations, such as the effect on competition and the efficiency of the industry if insolvency practitioners are licensed, I am seeking the public’s feedback on the report.

“Part two of the working group’s review considers voidable transactions and Ponzi schemes. This will be finalised later in the year,” says Mr Goldsmith.

Consultation on the IWG’s findings will run until 7 October. You can read the full report here.

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