Banking and Finance archivos

Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal participa en el VIII Seminario Jean Monnet: “Banking solvency and sovereign solvency”

14 de April de 2023 no comments in Banking and Finance, Events

Nuestro compañero Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, Of Counsel de Kepler-Karst y catedrático de Derecho Bancario y Financiero en la universidad Queen Mary de Londres, participará el próximo 21 de abril en el VIII Seminario Jean Monnet, organizado por la Universidad de Málaga, sobre regulación económica, competencia e integración europea.

El encuentro, titulado “Banking solvency and sovereign solvency”, abordará cuestiones relevantes en el plano comunitario relativas a los retos actuales relacionados con la deuda soberana.

Junto con Rodrigo participarán: Juana Pulgar-Ezquerra, catedrática de Derecho Mercantil de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, George Selgin, director emérito de la Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, y Ana Lozano-Vivas, catedrática de Análisis Económico y quien moderará la jornada.

🗓️ Viernes, 21 de abril

🕐 10.00h a 12.00h

banking & sovereign solvency session with Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal

Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal on the merger between Credit Suisse and UBS

22 de March de 2023 no comments in Banking and Finance, Opinion

The merger between Credit Suisse and UBS is creating waves across the banking sector. Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, Of Counsel at Kepler-Karst and professor of Banking and Finance Law at Queen Mary University of London, comments for Bloomberg about this momentous event.

As part of the transaction, the Swiss regulator ordered the write-down of the riskiest notes (AT1) despite that shareholders have not been fully wiped-out, leaving bondholders shocked.

Rodrigo said that “[t]here are three elements that need to be balanced: the need to preserve financial stability, the pre-established hierarchical order of claims and any waiver of rights contained in the terms of the underlying documents”. He also added that “[h]owever, regulators have a lot of discretion to justify the unjustifiable.”

Click here to read the full analysis.

Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal for Reuters on Ghana’s debt restructuring plans

5 de December de 2022 no comments in Banking and Finance, Opinion, Restructuring and Insolvency

Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, Of Counsel at Kepler-Karst and Professor of Banking and Finance Law at Queen Mary University of London, commented for Reuters on Ghana’s debt restructuring plans as it faces a debt overhaul.

Regarding the $400 million guarantee offered by the World Bank to Ghana to provide extra security if the country failed to pay investors, Rodrigo said: “The guarantee was designed to kick in when there is a temporary liquidity issue, not an structural debt problem.”

Rodrigo is an expert in restructurings and sovereign debt, and has been involved in the major corporate, bank and government restructurings globally.

Read the full article here.

Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal on Russian Debt Default

19 de July de 2022 no comments in Banking and Finance, Opinion

Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, Of Counsel and Professor of Banking and Finance Law at Queen Mary University of London, comments on Russia’s recent default on its foreign debt.

In this article, Rodrigo, a legal expert, and Nasir Aminu, an economist at Cardiff Metropolitan University, explain the significance of the default and its consecuences. For Rodrigo, “the full impact of the default remains uncertain until the global financial market gets clarity” regarding some issues, but, in any case, “those issues would be subject to interpretation by a court of law“.

Read the full comment on The Conversation or at the World Economic Forum’s website.

Russian debt: a circle to be squared

27 de June de 2022 no comments in Banking and Finance, Business Law, Opinion

By Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, Of Counsel at Kepler-Karst Law Firm and expert in Sovereign Debt.

Russia recently missed an interest payment on two of its sovereign bonds, the 2026 USD and 2036 EUR bonds, and, as it is common in these instruments, they enjoy a 30-day grace period that just ended. Things are getting difficult.

The 2026 USD prospectus is quite interesting, because it allows for payments to be made in USD, but also in EUR, GBP or CHF if, for reasons beyond its control, Russia is unable to make payments in USD (in whole or in part).

In the same sense, the 2036 EUR prospectus allows payments in currencies other than EUR as well, but goes even further and also adds the RUB as a possible alternative payment currency.

Although these conditions may seem positive, the reality is that not fulfilling obligations in the established currency –EUR or USD- may not be ideal for the original creditor (e.g. currency mistmatch).

If this was not enough, there is another relevant clause that makes things more difficult to square the circle: the so-called Currency Indemnity Clause. This clause allows for a discharge of the payment obligation in situations where someone receives or recover (not necessarily recover) a payment in another currency (and, why not, in another place). However, the payment received in RUB, must allow the creditor to purchase the necessary amount of USD to offset the original obligation due.

In any event, clarity is required on whether there has been a discharge for Russia on its obligations, what is the difference between receiving and recovering payments, or whether Russia was prevented to pay because of the Western sanctions (or if these were self-inflicted and thus Russia is not excused for not making the payment).

All these issues are subject to interpretation by a court of law, but Russia has not waived any of its sovereign immunity and has not submitted to the jurisdiction of any court in any of the two prospectuses.

What a circle to be squared and here at Kepler-Karst we can assist.

Rodrigo commented for Reuters on this subject and he appeared in numerous international media outlets such as Euractiv, Daily Mail and Magnet.