Collective proceedings are procedures where a company in difficulty is placed under judicial supervision in order to organize the settlement of its debts.
There are 3 types of collective proceedings, depending on the seriousness of the company's situation:
Safeguard procedure
Insolvency proceeding
Judicial liquidation
What are safeguard procedure and insolvency proceeding?
Safeguard procedure concerns companies that have not yet suspended payments, whereas insolvency proceeding concerns companies that have suspended payments.
These 2 procedures are aimed at allowing the company to continue as a going concern, maintaining jobs and discharging its liabilities.
A judicial representative is appointed to represent the creditors. If the company's situation is too unstable, a judicial administrator may be appointed in addition to the judicial representative to manage all or part of the company and its accounts.
My company is in insolvency proceeding / safeguard procedure and no judicial administrator has been appointed. What should I do?
If no judicial administrator has been appointed, you can manage and use your account as normal.
💡 If the judicial representative sends us instructions, we will be obliged to comply with them.
My company is in insolvency proceeding / safeguard procedure and a judicial administrator has been appointed to assist or represent it. What should I do?
If a judicial administrator is appointed, we are obliged to comply with his instructions, for example:
Block the account but allow credit transactions only
Give the judicial administrator access to the account but with restricted access (read-only)
Give the judicial administrator access to the account with a change of holder in his favour
Only the judicial administrator has the power of decision over the account, the account holder or company manager will not be able to give us instructions.
💡 If the insolvency proceeding/safeguard procedure is reversed, the company manager may regain free use of the account. In this case, we will ask you to provide us with the signed judgment.
What is a judicial liquidation and what should I do?
Judicial liquidation is a court decision that puts an over-indebted company out of business. In this case, the insolvency proceeding/safeguard procedure will unfortunately not have enabled the company to improve its situation. Thus, judicial liquidation puts a definitive end to the company's activities.
In a judicial liquidation, a judicial liquidator is appointed. Only this person can manage the account.
We must therefore comply with the liquidator's instructions. The account holder or company manager will not be able to give us instructions.
💡 For individual companies, if a new activity different from the previous one is started, the SIREN number remains the same. As a result, even if the previous activity gave rise to a judicial liquidation, the manager can manage the account alone. In this situation, we may ask you for proof of the new activity.