This paper analyses the likely impact of new civil recovery powers that allow the State to launch personal liability proceedings against directors of failed companies. The paper presents the results of an analysis of the incidence of personal bankruptcy in a sample of over 450 wrongdoing directors. This analysis suggests that directors implicated in serious wrongdoing are more likely than the norm to be declared bankrupt by a factor of some 19,000. The paper presents this and other analysis to argue that new civil recovery powers are unlikely to result in a significant upswing in civil recovery for creditors of failed companies.