Banking + Financial Services Regulation

Our practice includes former federal banking agency regulators, including an executive and counsel from the FDIC, an attorney from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C., and a managing director and senior advisor from the U.S. Treasury Department’s former Office of Thrift Supervision, who previously served as counsel to the former House Banking Committee. Our team also includes former CFPB enforcement attorneys. In addition to government agency experience, many of our attorneys have significant state and federal experience representing financial institutions, fintech companies, and other financial services providers in investigations conducted by the DOJ, SEC, and FDIC.

We provide legal and regulatory advice to banks and nonbank financial firms regarding the scope of new and existing laws, regulations, interpretations, and recently issued regulatory and supervisory guidance. Acting as in-house counsel to financial institutions, fintech companies, and other financial services providers, we advise on rapidly changing areas of the law, including those affecting permissible bank and bank holding company powers; trust powers; lending limits; federal preemption; insider lending issues; affiliate transactions; capital and liquidity issues; tying issues; Volcker Rule compliance; payments issues; Community Reinvestment Act compliance; brokered deposits; and other areas.

A key component of our bank regulatory practice is advising bank directors and senior managers regarding the many legal requirements, compliance obligations, and fiduciary duties and responsibilities imposed on them as bank officers and directors. This involves collaborating with a bank’s senior officers and directors on important developments that may affect how they perform in their roles for the bank and its parent holding company. We conduct material risk reviews to assess the areas of exposure that a bank or its officers/directors may have, and when necessary, we represent officers and directors that may be the subject of regulatory scrutiny or investigation.

Our team regularly advises on bank acquisitions and acquisitions of control, bank and bank holding company control issues, bank mergers, the formation of new (de novo) banks, including newly formed state-chartered banks, national banks, and special purpose charters. We provide specific and actionable advice on the types of charters that work best for their long-term institutional goals. Additionally, we advise clients in newly chartered banks and recently formed holding companies on the nuances of the bank regulatory regime and supervisory process, including the extensive compliance requirements that come with operating a bank and/or bank holding company.

In addition to our representation of U.S. banks, we have a robust practice representing non-U.S. banks with respect to their efforts to establish a U.S. presence through the establishment of a branch, agency, or representative office, stand-alone de novo bank, or acquisition of a bank or bank branches. We also advise non-U.S. banks on the regulatory constraints that limit their operations in the U.S. Our non-U.S. bank clients are in all areas of the world, including Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, and other countries. In the UK, our London attorneys have advised leading banks and financial institutions on the launch of new and innovative finance products in the UK’s increasingly challenging regulatory environment. We have also help financial institutions gain authorization to engage in regulated activity from the Financial Conduct Authority and in ongoing compliance.

We represent fintech companies and other financial services providers that collaborate extensively with banks in connection with the rollout and implementation of new and innovative products and services. Our team offers a unique perspective on structuring bank-fintech partnerships and in advising banks and bank service providers navigating various challenges, including issues with subprime loans or problem loans, management issues, alleged violations of law or regulation, capital deficiencies, liquidity problems, board difficulties, or other issues. Our attorneys also regularly negotiate and implement regulatory and supervisory agreements on behalf of regulatory agencies and our clients, including formal agreements, cease and desist orders, removal and/or prohibition orders, orders for prompt corrective action, memoranda of understanding, informal agreements, and other federal and state regulator-required actions.

Financial institutions often need guidance in connection with issues involving troubled assets, capital, liquidity, and examinations and proposed actions by bank regulators, including the imposition of prompt corrective action measures, operating agreements, and receiverships. We have extensive experience negotiating with federal banking and other regulatory agencies in implementing regulatory and supervisory agreements on behalf of banks and other financial institutions, including formal agreements, cease and desist orders, removal and/or prohibition orders, orders for prompt corrective action, memoranda of understanding, informal agreements, and other federal and state regulator-required actions.

Our anti-money laundering (AML) and international trade sanctions team includes attorneys with decades of experience providing clients guidance in establishing appropriate controls and advising on specific transactions such as lending arrangements, inter-bank activity, import/export trade restrictions, currency transfers, and customer relationships. We regularly handle AML and sanctions-related financing matters for financial institutions, investment banks, insurance companies, money service businesses, mutual funds, fintech companies, and other financial services providers across the U.S., and have assisted international companies with cross-border AML and sanctions-related financing issues. The team also has significant experience conducting investigations required or necessary because of law enforcement involvement, regulatory agency actions, pending or contemplated litigation, or board of directors/senior management mandates.

• Legal 500 United States: Finance: Financial Services Regulation (Firm to Watch) (2023); Tier 4 (2024)