ABI Announces 2024 "40 Under 40" Emerging Leaders in Insolvency Practice​​​

ABI announces the honorees of its 2024 “40 Under 40” award program, which identifies 40 top industry professionals under age 40. The honorees will be recognized at a special ceremony on Dec. 13 during ABI’s 2024 Winter Leadership Conference at The Phoenician Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Ariz. Click here to view the full list of ABI’s 2024 “40 Under 40” honorees. “We are honored to celebrate the exceptional leaders within the 2024 class as they continue to make a significant impact both in their practice and in their communities,” said ABI Executive Director Amy Quackenboss. “As bankruptcy practice continues to evolve, this diverse collection of honorees will propel ABI and the insolvency community forward.” Nominations were submitted earlier this year by the candidates themselves or by colleagues via the award program’s website, abi40under40.org. More than 200 candidates, each with outstanding records of professional achievement and community leadership, were evaluated by members of a 22-person steering committee. Most of the applicants were partners, directors or managing directors at their firms.

Strong Discretionary Spending Lifts U.S. Retail Sales in September​​​

U.S. retail sales increased solidly in September likely as lower gasoline prices gave consumers more money to spend at restaurants and bars, supporting the view that the economy maintained a strong growth pace in the third quarter, Reuters reported. The slightly stronger-than-expected rise in sales reported by the Commerce Department on Thursday also reflected sharp increases in receipts at clothing store outlets as well as miscellaneous store retailers. Retail sales rose 0.4% last month after an unrevised 0.1% gain in August, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said. Sales at clothing stores rebounded 1.5% after falling 0.8% in the prior month. Receipts at miscellaneous store retailers surged 4.0%, while online sales climbed 0.4%. Grocery store sales vaulted 1.0%, and receipts at general merchandise stores rose 0.5%. Building material and garden equipment store sales gained 0.2%. Consumers also spent more at sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and book stores. Read more.

Subchapter V Experiences to Share? ABI Wants to Hear from You!

ABI is continuing its study of Subchapter V, and it needs your help! We are particularly interested in learning more about the real-world impact of Subchapter V. So our question is, do you have a story about a distressed business or creditor who has used or benefited from the subchapter? If so, could that case still happen under the lower debt cap for Subchapter V debtors? Any and all responses are welcome. Submit your story at https://abi.org/subvstories.
 

Biden Administration Forgives $4.5 Billion in Student Debt for over 60,000 Public Service Workers​​​

The Biden administration announced today that it was forgiving another $4.5 billion in student debt for more than 60,000 borrowers, CNBC.com reported. The latest round of relief is a result of the U.S. Department of Education’s fixes to the popular, but once troubled, Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. President Joe Biden said that the number of borrowers to benefit from the program under his administration now exceeded 1 million. The PSLF program, signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007, allows certain not-for-profit and government employees to have their federal student loans canceled after 10 years. In 2013, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimated that one-quarter of American workers may be eligible. However, the program was plagued by problems. Often, borrowers believed they were on track to loan cancellation only to discover at some point that they didn’t qualify on a technicality, such as their loan type or repayment plan. Before Biden took office, only 7,000 people had ever received the debt relief under PSLF, the Department of Education said. The program’s rejection rate was as high as 98% in some years, it added. Under Biden, the Education Department has relaxed the program’s requirements and overhauled how it’s managed. Borrowers eligible for this round of relief should learn of their canceled debt in the coming weeks. The average student loan balance forgiven under PSLF is around $70,000, according to a rough estimate by higher education expert Mark Kantowitz. Read more.

Legislation Introduced to Protect Consumers from Credit Card Repair Scams​​​

Representatives Young Kim (R-Calif.) and Wiley Nickel (D-N.C.) on Oct. 15 introduced the "Ending Scam Credit Repair Act" (ESCRA) to combat fraudulent practices in the credit-repair industry, according to a press release. The bill targets credit-repair organizations (CROs) that exploit consumers by charging high fees without delivering on promises to improve credit scores. By strengthening CROs’ regulations, the bill’s sponsors are aiming to ensure transparency and accountability in the industry. “Credit scores can be the key to unlocking the American dream. Fraudulent CROs should not get away with scamming hardworking Americans seeking to improve their scores,” Kim said. Click here to review the bill text of the "Ending Scam Credit Repair Act." 

Jobless Claims Retreat After Last Week’s Sharp Increase​​​

One week after hitting the highest level in more than a year, the Labor Department said today that initial jobless claims retreated by 19,000 to 241,000, MarketWatch.com reported. Last week, claims rose a revised 35,000 to 260,000, compared with an initial estimate of a rise of 33,000 to 258,000. The large increase was attributed to claims from Hurricane Helene, but an ongoing strike at Boeing Co. is also playing a role in boosting claims, economists said. The number of new claims based on actual filings — that is, before seasonal adjustments — fell by 11,416 to 224,763 in the latest week. Read more.

Florida Homeowners Fear Soaring Insurance Costs After Hurricanes​​​

Florida has been hit with four major hurricanes in the past four years, which has sent insurance premiums rocketing and caused some insurers to pull back on coverage, Reuters reported. For residents cleaning up after storms or living near water, they worry about whether they will still have insurance. "I live in fear I will get a letter from my new company telling me they are going to drop me, too," said Jim Tynan, who has a 1,200-square foot condo in Ponte Vedra, Fla., speaking after the latest hurricane. "It's very scary." A number of homeowners in Florida have faced a precarious situation for securing insurance. Average homeowner premiums in Florida surged nearly 60% between 2019 and 2023. Some major insurance providers have reduced coverage. The state insurer, Citizens, meanwhile has taken on increased business. Analysts and insurance experts predict more nervousness about insurers following Hurricane Milton, which made landfall on Florida's Southwest coast just 12 days after Hurricane Helene made landfall on Florida's Northwest coast. The increased hurricanes could increase reliance on the state-backed nonprofit insurer Citizens, considered the insurer of last resort. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has in the past raised questions about how the insurer could pay claims if large storms hit. Citizens spokesperson Michael Peltier said it would always be able to pay, as it was structured to first levy surcharges on policyholders and then, if needed, assessments on non-policyholders. He said about 80,000 claims have come in so far related to Milton, and that it expected to be able to pay them all without having to levy assessments on non-Citizens policyholders. Read more.

CLOs Are So Hot Right Now, They’re Getting ETF’d​​​

Low-rated corporate loans are having a banner year, and Wall Street is trying to find more ways to sell them to ordinary people, according to a WSJ Pro Bankruptcy analysis. At least four asset-managers, including BlackRock and Nuveen, have recently asked for permission from the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of collateralized loan obligations — securities made by bundling junk-rated loans together. Those will join about a dozen CLO ETFs that have already entered the market in recent years and that now have about $16 billion in assets under management. The funds mark the latest effort to bring a hot Wall Street product within reach of ordinary investors. CLO sales have been rising fast: Firms such as Ares Management and Blackstone have logged around $147 billion in sales this year, compared with $87 billion during the same period last year, according to PitchBook LCD data through Oct. 11. CLOs buy junk-rated corporate loans by borrowing money from investors. Investors in CLOs aren’t buying the loans themselves, but rather floating-rate debt securities, which are used to purchase the loans. Those come with varying credit ratings and offer disparate yields — with lower-rated, higher-yielding securities being at greater risk of losses when the underlying loans start to default. CLOs have been one of the top-performing fixed-income investments in 2024, with yields at their highest levels in decades and a growing economy easing fears of a wave of corporate defaults. Now, money managers are betting that the ease of buying and selling ETFs will attract more individual investors. Read more.

Access All Current ABI Titles Through ABI’s New Digital Book Subscription!​​​

One of the best collections of bankruptcy books is now available as an annual digital subscription! ABI’s bankruptcy library opens the door to a constantly evolving area of the law, and our books are continually being updated by top industry professionals. Auto-renewing annual subscriptions guarantee immediate access to this invaluable resource, which is comprised of fully searchable content that’s always available on any digital device. Convenient pricing plans for individual and institutional subscribers offer immediate and unlimited access to our entire digital library of books — nearly 100 treatises! Plus, you get advanced access to new and revised books as soon as they are published — all included in your annual subscription. Learn more!

Have an Idea for a Topic for an ABI Conference Session? Submit Your Proposal via ABI’s “Call for Abstracts” Page!​​​

ABI has launched an online portal for professionals to submit proposals for educational sessions at future ABI conferences. Submitters can describe their proposed topic, outline the session’s focus and learning goals, suggest speakers, and provide contact information via the portal’s detailed form. The portal can be accessed here.

All submissions will be reviewed by an internal Education Committee, which will contact the submitter to ask questions as needed and to discuss the status of the proposal. Submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

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