This episode features a conversation with Will Paterson, a III member as well as a Senior Financial Sector Specialist at the World Bank Group, where he advises client countries on insolvency and debt resolution frameworks. The discussion focuses on the need for rules that are simple—yet not merely simplified—to govern the liquidation and reorganisation of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in financial distress. Drawing on his extensive experience at the World Bank, Will reflects on several key publications produced by the organisation in recent years, including the Principles for Effective Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes (2021), the Toolkit for Corporate Workouts (2022), and the soon-to-be-revised Report on the Treatment of MSME Insolvency (2017).

The conversation also touches on INSOL International’s latest technical report in this field (available on the INSOL International Technical Library), authored by Will himself, which examines how simplified insolvency regimes have been implemented in the OHADA region, the United States, and Singapore.