Mathew Ditchburn, a British Property Federation representative, has been appointed as the next chair of the Joint Insolvency Committee.
Formed in 1999, the JIC provides a forum for discussion and standard setting between regulatory bodies and maintains a set of industry-wide guidelines, the Statements of Insolvency Practice.
Ditchburn, currently vice-chair of the BPF’s insolvency committee, is a solicitor and partner at Hogan Lovells specialising in property litigation particularly within insolvency scenarios.
Commenting on behalf of the BPF, which joined the JIC in 2014, Ian Fletcher, the BPF’s director of policy, said Ditchburn’s appointment would be welcomed across the property industry.
“Mathew is the first JIC lay chair who straddles the IP and landlord camps and he will help to continue the progress IP stakeholders have made in recent years to build openness, trust and best practice in insolvency cases – which is the JIC’s mission.”
Ditchburn said: “The committee does excellent work and many of the issues it deals with are of real importance to the property industry. Appointing someone outside the insolvency profession to be its chair demonstrates the JIC’s commitment to transparency and accountability.”
Ditchburn will take up his new role in March 2017, replacing Philip King of the Institute of Credit Management.
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