Antonia Menezes
Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Antonia Menezes is a Senior Financial Sector Specialist and leads the Insolvency & Debt Resolution Program of the World Bank Group based in Washington D.C. The focus of her work is providing technical assistance to governments on insolvency and legal aspects of NPL reforms, with a particular emphasis on work in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. Antonia has published widely in the field of restructuring and insolvency and represents the World Bank at Working Group V of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). She is also Chair of the World Bank Insolvency & Creditor/Debtor Regimes (ICR) Task Force. Antonia is a current Board Member of INSOL International, a former Board Member of the International Insolvency Institute, an INSOL Fellow and sits on the INSOL Academic Steering Committee and INSOL Africa Advisory Committee. She is also on the Advisory Panel of Columbia University’s Committee of Global Thought. She is a UK qualified solicitor and practiced at two leading international law firms in London and Paris before joining the World Bank.

Nina Mocheva
Senior Financial Sector Specialist

Nina is a Senior Financial Sector Specialist with the Debt Resolution & Insolvency program of the World Bank Group and focuses on providing lead technical assistance to member countries in improving their credit infrastructure systems, non-performing loan resolution strategies, as well as implementing alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms, such as commercial arbitration and mediation. Her work focuses primarily on the South and East Asia, Eastern Europe, as well as MENA regions. She is particularly interested in the use of ADR in insolvency and debt enforcement processes and has published extensively on these topics. Nina is a Fellow of INSOL International, member of the International Insolvency Institute and Co-Chair of INSOL International’s MENA Advisory Council. She is a CEDR and Breakthrough ADR accredited mediator and has delivered numerous workshops on commercial mediation for practitioners and policy makers.

Akvile Gropper
Senior Consultant

Akvile Gropper is a Senior Consultant with the Insolvency & Debt Resolution Program of the World Bank Group. She has over 16 years of experience advising governments and private sector clients on the design and implementation of insolvency and debt resolution frameworks, as well as arbitration and mediation laws and institutions. Her work spans multiple regions and includes broader reforms to strengthen credit infrastructure and business regulation.

Akvile has authored and co‑authored various knowledge products on insolvency, debt resolution, and ADR. A Lithuanian and U.S.-qualified lawyer, she has held roles in a commercial litigation firm and in organizations such as the International Law Institute and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. She is currently based in Barcelona, Spain.

BUILDING RESILIENT INSOLVENCY SYSTEMS IN A SHIFTING GLOBAL LANDSCAPE

Economic resilience is deeply linked to effective restructuring and insolvency systems. When economies face greater volatility and uncertainty, it becomes increasingly important for these systems to address individual and corporate financial distress, both in breadth and depth, across a wide range of scenarios. Systems designed primarily for stable and consistent environments risk leaving gaps in coverage precisely in areas where resilience is most needed.

This is especially relevant in the current global landscape, marked by geopolitical and trade tensions and persistent inflationary pressures. The IMF projects that global growth will slow to 3.1 percent in 2026 and 3.2 percent in 2027 – and this is a hopeful scenario if the conflict in the Middle East is contained1IMF (2026). World Economic Outlook: Global Economy in the Shadow of War. April 2026. International Monetary Fund. Available at: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/weo/issues/2026/04/14/world-economic-outlook- april-2026. In a worse scenario, such as damage to energy infrastructure in the region, global growth could fall to around 2 percent, while inflation could rise above 6 percent.2Ibid Intensifying these pressures, the factors that had temporarily supported resilience in some sectors over the past months – such as strong risk appetite, stockpiling of traded goods, and AI related investment—are not expected to last.3World Bank. 2026. Global Economic Prospects, January 2026. Washington, DC: World Bank. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/global-economic-prospects

So, in tangible terms, how can countries’ insolvency and restructuring systems help address the projected massive business and consumer distress? Experience shows that sustained macroeconomic pressures and prolonged uncertainty often translates into cash-flow stress, weakened balance sheets, and rising insolvency risks in the private sector, with smaller firms typically affected first. The central question for policymakers and practitioners is whether existing frameworks can absorb this level of pressure – early enough, at sufficient scale, and while preserving value where possible.

There is, however, a solid foundation to build on following reforms and innovative solutions which emerged as a result of past crises such as the Asian financial crises, the Global Financial Crisis and more recently, the COVID-19 crisis. In the current context of political, economic, and technological change, many countries rightly continue to prioritize the development of restructuring and insolvency regimes that function credibly and efficiently in both stress and non-stress conditions. Past crises exposed structural weaknesses in insolvency systems and helped catalyze reform momentum across many jurisdictions. These efforts have often focused on making procedures more accessible, efficient, and responsive – particularly through MSME insolvency and debt resolution reforms, early-warning mechanisms, and expanded use of out-of-court and hybrid workouts,4Understood here as privately negotiated restructurings between creditors and financially distressed debtors to avoid full formal insolvency proceedings. supported by digitalization and institutional capacity building. Given the rapid evolution of economic, political, environmental and technological factors we can expect a higher pace of disruption and change and, in turn, future insolvency measures should be ready for the new reality.

The World Bank Group, as an international standard-setter in the field of insolvency and creditor/debtor regimes (ICR) with the support of the ICR Task Force, is working to support more resilient, transparent and predictable insolvency systems in emerging markets and developing economies. The World Bank Group together with the ICR Task Force regularly reviews the adequacy of the World Bank Principles for Effective Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes and their relevance against current complexities and global challenges. In 2025, the Task Force updated the Principles, with new guidance on the enabling environment for enterprise workouts in recognition of the importance that these tools are playing to provide flexible and efficient restructuring solutions to stakeholders. The update was developed in the context of increased demand in member countries for tools that bring more informal restructuring frameworks in line with new business and financial realities. Additionally, over the past few years, there has been a marked global increase in new workout frameworks, in multiple forms, including those with and without court involvement and with different degrees of formality in both crisis and non-crisis scenarios.

On the operational side, the World Bank’s technical assistance teams continue to support countries in designing and modernizing insolvency systems. In particular, reforms in consumer and MSME-related insolvency law have accelerated in recent years. These reforms are frequently driven by rising household debt, repeated economic shocks, and the fact that local economies are dominated by businesses with overlapping personal and business debts. The reform trends also reflect a shift from punitive, court-centric systems toward rehabilitative and “second-chance” frameworks.

Equally important is the institutional dimension. In recent years, a number of jurisdictions have embarked on enhancing specialization among the judges and insolvency practitioners, streamlining case management and improving inter-institutional coordination. Collectively, these efforts reflect a broader shift from “law on the books” to “law in practice.”

A broader data-systems agenda is also emerging. As some recent analysis highlighted, the lack of robust and standardized data collection, and not just in personal insolvency cases, is a significant gap in many countries and it urgently needs to be addressed to support effective system design and evidence based reforms.5See, for example, José M. Garrido, Jason Kilborn, and Anjum Rosha. “Personal Insolvency and Data Collection Systems”, IMF Working Papers 2025, 124 (2025). Available at: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229013703.001 Adoption of digital tools and AI remains uneven, and both policymakers and practitioners largely lack clear guidance on which technologies are feasible, useful and safe to apply in insolvency practice.

Environment-related stresses, whether stemming from the physical impacts of natural disasters or from transition and regulatory adjustments, will also require attention. Restructuring and insolvency systems should be prepared to manage these pressures in a manner that is orderly, predictable and consistent with broader policy objectives.

Looking ahead, the systems we build must be ready for the future. Digitalization, AI, stronger data foundations, cross-border cooperation, and preparedness for new shocks will shape whether insolvency regimes can operate at scale and respond effectively to financial distress during a period of increased exposure to economic, geopolitical, or technological shocks.