UK clearing banks and other secured lenders will continue to be
repaid before preferential creditors in corporate insolvencies
under a recent ruling by the Court of Appeals.
The Court ruled unanimously that a debenture held by National
Westminster Bank over the book debts of paint-maker Spectrum Plus
qualified as a fixed, rather than a floating, charge over the
company's debts.
The ruling reverses an earlier High Court decision, which had
ruled in January that the security held by NatWest over Spectrum's
book debts should...