In the face of lockdowns, social distancing, and COVID-19 protocols, global businesses at the start of the pandemic had to think fast and many multinational corporations shifted focus to survival mode. In the process, at times, global entity management fell by the wayside.

The manner of doing business had to be reimagined in the spirit of business continuity. But now that the dust has settled and business leaders have the benefit of hindsight, most General Counsels seem to agree that the pandemic’s upheaval provides new opportunities to rethink global entity management.

Three examples of entity management areas where a reinvention could be warranted are: filing deadlines, board and shareholders meetings, and the execution of documents.

The entities of multinational companies that lodge annual accounts may have faced a hindered process during the pandemic. In many countries, this raised questions about whether the timeline for approving and publishing annual accounts should be reconsidered. Many global businesses are now rethinking their approach to meeting statutory reporting obligations.

For a fair part of 2020 and 2021, business meetings in general took a mostly virtual approach. For the employee rallying with a team, this wasn’t a big issue. But for board and shareholder meetings of a global portfolio of entities, virtual technology calls new concerns into question. For starters, can these types of meetings be held remotely? What do the AoA of the entity state? And are the directors of the entity meant to be physically present?

A third example is the use of digital signatures in lieu of wet ink on paper. In many countries signature requirements have been relaxed due to COVID-19. Much like virtual notarizations have become more common in the last year.

The pandemic has given multinational corporations plenty of food for thought on how to move forward in a new era. Contact TGC with any questions for more information on how to manage your global entities in a post COVID-19 era.