COVID CRISIS MANAGEMENT

All financial institutions are facing an unprecedented attack on their business to a level their contingency plans could never have foreseen. It´s not just banks and insurance companies that are facing a shortage of employees in the workplace because now, a significant number of people must work from home. Clients are at risk of insolvency, there is little interest in new products, as people either can´t or don´t want to visit brick-and-mortar businesses, and, according to the latest news, the government will likely implement further more restrictive measures. Internal legal and compliance teams are overhlemed by the requirements to be met when devising emergency solutions and approvingexceptions to stadard processes while also struggling with the challenge to identify and handle all related risks. 

With its know-how in the following areas of law, PRK is ready to assist you in resolving the challenges you are facing. 

Accelerated setting up of a procedure for concluding distance contracts:

• How to reduce the risk of AML distance identification, especially when an intermediary is involved?
• How to reduce the risk of invalidity of an email contract due improper form?
• How to reduce the risk of not being able bear the burden of proof in court?

Worsened payment situation in loan portfolios:

• Does a breach of debtor obligations in the current situation constitute a breach that would trigger an acceleration clause?
• Are you entitled to claim damages from the debtor as a result of such breach and, if so, under what conditions?
• Or, on the other hand, what possibilities exist to provide clients with debt relief and help them in difficult times, for example by postponing a loan’s maturity, without worsening the quality of the loan portfolio?
• What kinds of public support are available to finance your clients affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) 

Risks of long-term capacity problems and home office work:

• How should management respond to sudden process changes, supervisory capacity failures or a lack of remote access?
• What are your conditions for confidentiality of information (bank secrecy, NDA, GDPR, etc.) and how secure are the communication channels that you have introduced for working from home?

PRK is ready to assist you quickly and effectively:

• to set up new processes for obtaining new clients and for authenticating existing clients, via remote access;
• to set up loan-portfolio crisis resolution procedures in accordance with the law and your existing terms and conditions, whether in the case of acceleration and debt recovery, or in cases where, for example, you intend to give debtors the possibility of simple, short-term deferral instalment payments;
• to amend contractual documentation, for example, in relation to a debtor who defaults;
• to set up or revise internal rules and procedures for sharing sensitive information, whether for home office or for facilitating remote negotiation and contract signing, including specialties, such as preparing and reviewing penetration test contracts;
• to propose a solution to address GDPR compliance issues in relation to sensitive data, such as working with information on coronavirus-affected employees;
• to address various issues related to enforced decisions, such as temporary restrictions on certain activities, including regulatory, accounting and labour-law issues;
• to deal with specific procedures related to preparing for and claiming damage compensation as a result of the state’s crisis measures;
• to handle other legal and regulatory issues related to all adopted measures you are currently facing.