Comment: insolvency reform good news for business lenders
Some of the reset banks need on business finance might arrive courtesy of reforms on the law and practice around insolvent trading announced yesterday.It's a decent list announced by Australia's conservative government, and an abundance of good news, probably, for any lender genuinely in the business of business credit.Nippers with stories to tell will swing right behind this opportunity to source leads and build awareness of nifty new forms of business finance.Above all, they (or the big banks obliged to crowd them out) will have to tailor lending product to a cohort of soon to be rehabilitated bankrupts.Reducing the default bankruptcy period of three years to one year is the first highlight of the Turnbull Morrison Pyne package announced yesterday.Introduction of a safe harbour for directors from personal liability for insolvent trading if they appoint a professional restructuring adviser to develop a plan to turn around a company in financial difficulty is a second.The Government also plans to ban "ipso facto" contractual clauses that allow agreements to be terminated solely due to an insolvency event, if a company is undertaking a restructure.Future business lending conversations might proceed as follows: "Fine, you went bankrupt twice before. We can live with that experience."You need and we want to advance you a business finance line tied in some fashion to your invoices and cash flow. Otherwise, we need no other security."We also plan to lend to five million more businesses like you, now please round up your friends."