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Banking Law Prof Blog 

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Post Frequency: 4.3/day Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 14:13:05 Recent Entries: 528
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Brooksley Born - Another American Hero
Posted on May 17, 2010In response to my posting about "What If Women Ran Wall Street," one reader reminds us to include Brooksley Born. What if federal regulators had listened to her 1990s warnings about derivatives? LInk: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/ (ag) May 17, 2010, in Economy,...
A Proposal for Ending TBTF
Posted on May 17, 2010George Washington University Law Professor Arthur Wilmarth sets out a plan to end "Too Big to Fail" in Friday's American Banker: "Viewpoint: Create Narrow Banks to Fight TBTF." A subscription to American Banker is required to read the banking newspaper,...
American Law Institute
Posted on May 15, 2010The American Law Institute's Annual Meeting will be in Washington, D.C. next week. I'm looking forward to my first annual meeting since election to membership last fall. One of the highlights will be the dinner on Tuesday evening -- at...
Sears, Kmart, Wal-Mart and the Unbanked
Posted on May 14, 2010Check cashing, bill pay, wire transfers and other financial services for those who don't have a bank account, may have poor credit, and primarily use cash -- Sears, Kmart, and Wal-Mart are working on business plans to address these needs....
What If Women Ran Wall Street?
Posted on May 13, 2010Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner raised this question in jest recently -- but we've good three good answers in all seriousness: SEC Chairman Mary Sharpiro, FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, and Chairman of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Assets Relief...
Financial Reform Legislation in the U.S. Senate - Amendments
Posted on May 13, 2010Here's a fact sheet on various amendments that have been and are being considered for financial reform legislation in the U.S. Senate. Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64B2XM20100512 A vote on the Volcker Rule to prevent banks from proprietary trading should come this week...
Why Goldman Sachs "Innovations" Failed
Posted on May 12, 2010Bloomberg Business Week discusses Peter Drucker's core principles of "innovation" - that it is market driven and serves the customer. According to this standard, the Collateralized Debt Obligations that Goldman Sachs used to bet against its own customers did not...
Bailing Out the Euro
Posted on May 12, 2010As threat of sovereign debt default by Greece and the weaker European Union currencies impacts the unified currency, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, and Central Banks around the globe have established a $1 trillion bailout to keep the...
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac - The Next Financial Problem to Fix
Posted on May 11, 2010The secondary mortgage market is a critical component of the U.S. financial structure and the heart of it is broken. Fannie Mae needs $8.4 Million in additional government aid to survive. Congress must tackle restructuring the secondary mortgage market soon...
Greek Financial Crisis - Is There Anything New Under the Sun?
Posted on May 11, 2010Here's an insightful review of a book that places the current Greek financial crisis in the context of past financial crises. The book is This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly by Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S....
Republican Senators Ease Opposition to Financial Reform
Posted on April 21, 2010With public outrage over the financial crises exacerbated by the SEC's charge that Goldman Sachs engaged in fraud, the SEC's questions to 19 large banks about whether they used the "Lehman accounting trick" to avoid disclosing debt levels, and Congressional...
Toyota, Tylenol, and the Corporate Lawyer
Posted on April 20, 2010On Monday, Toyota agreed to pay a $16.4 Million fine assessed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. According to the U.S. Transportation Secretary, "Toyota put consumers at risk by failing to report safety problems related to the defective accelerator...
Greed is Back
Posted on April 20, 2010"Someone reminded me I once said 'Greed is good.' Now it seems it's legal." -- Gordon Gekko Remember the 1987 movie Wall Street? It's still so close to current events that it's a scary commentary. Here's a trailer for Wall...
The SEC Goes After Goldman Sachs
Posted on April 19, 2010The SEC's April 16, 2010, Press Release outlines charges against Goldman Sachs for fraud in connection with a collateralized debt obligation (CDO ) that was related to the performance of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). "The product was new and...
International Swaps & Derivatives
Posted on April 14, 2010Here's an interesting new paper analyzing International Swaps & Derivatives Association (ISDA) Master Agreements. ISDA is a trade organization of over-the-counter derivatives market participants, headquartered in New York. ISDA has created two versions of standardized contract (the ISDA Master Agreement)...
More Lehman Shenanigans
Posted on April 13, 2010It's Enron all over again! The New York Times today reports that Lehman Brothers used a hidden affiliate called Hudson Castle to shift risky investments off its balance sheet and to conduct apparently "arms length" transactions. Hudson Castle was used...
Ending Too Big to Fail
Posted on April 12, 2010One key purpose of financial reform legislation is to avoid a future financial system collapse that drives the U.S. to the point of severe recession or even depression. Much of the cost of the recent financial institution rescues is attributable...
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens Announces Retirement
Posted on April 09, 2010Justice John Paul Stevens today announced his plans to retire at the end of this Supreme Court term. Justice Stevens was appointed to the High Court by President Gerald Ford in 1975. He is the longest serving of the current...
More about CFPA
Posted on April 08, 2010"The Consumer Financial Protection Agency: Love It or Hate It, U.S. Financial Regulation Needs It", was recently listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list for LSN: Administrative Enforcement (Topic) and LSN: Enforcement of Consumer Laws (Topic). SSRN at http://ssrn...
Refund Anticipation Loans - Watch for Snakes
Posted on April 08, 2010Refund anticipation loans (RALs) are a bad deal for consumers because of the high up-front fees. Nevertheless, many consumers on the financial edge ask for this type of credit extension from their tax preparers. Both the IRS and the banking...
The "Orderly Liquidation Fund" - An Invitation to Continue TBTF
Posted on April 08, 2010The Senate Banking Committee version of the financial regulatory reform legislation would create "The Orderly Liquidation Fund," with funding of $50 Billion. My review of the ?Orderly Liquidation Fund? provisions of the financial reform bill passed by the Senate Banking...
Back from Spring Break
Posted on April 07, 2010I'm back from Spring Break & the U.S. Senate will also get back to business next week after their break. Financial Regulatory Reform Legislation is high on their agenda.
Senator Shelby & the CFPA
Posted on April 07, 2010Before the Spring Recess, the Senate Banking passed financial reform legislation on March 23 -- along party lines. Republican Senators decided to reserve objections for the Senate floor. Link to: David Cho & Brady Dennis, "Senate panel passes sweeping financial-regulation...
Sen. Dodd's Proposal Would Be One Giant Step Backward for Taxpaying Consumers
Posted on March 13, 2010According to latest reports, Sen. Dodd's proposed financial reform legislation (to be released on Monday) comtemplates placing consumer financial protection within the Federal Reserve. Based on the well-documented failure of the Federal Reserve to act within the authority it had...
USA PATRIOT Act Information Sharing - Banks Must Search Records Every Two Weeks
Posted on March 12, 2010The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the federal agency charged with administering Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws and regulations, runs a page on the FinCEN website for "Regulatory Hot Line Hot Topics." These topics change to reflect calls received from financial...
Senator Dodd to Release Senate Bill on Financial Regulatory Reform
Posted on March 11, 2010The Washington Post afternoon edition today reports that Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, will unveil his latest version of financial regulatory reform on Monday, Mar. 15, 2010. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Wall...
The Case for a Consumer Financial Protection Agency
Posted on March 10, 2010My most recent law review article, "The Consumer Financial Protection Agency: Love It or Hate It, U.S. Financial Regulation Needs It" is posted on SSRN at http://ssrn.com/author=391481. Abstract: As the U.S. economy begins a tentative recovery from recession, Congress is...
Two New Global Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) Trends
Posted on March 09, 2010Thanks to Blog Reader Jonathan Stotts for this informative video clip discussing two new global anti-money-laundering (AML) Trends: Big fines and more complex monitoring requirements. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7mUwqoMDng&feature=youtube_gdata Eugene Yoo talks about the top global trends in AML watch list filtering (WLF)...
Inside the Fed: Division of Opinion between the Regional Federal Reserve Banks & D.C. Headquarters
Posted on March 09, 2010Monday's Wall Street Journal has a detailed article by Jon Hilsenrath, "Battle Inside Fed Rages Over Bank Regulation." According to the article, "Fissures at the central bank boiled over last year in a meeting in the boardroom of a Fed...
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Some elses debt is being reported by a bank to the crecit agencies. They know and have ackowledged it is not mine, yet it is still being listed as mine. it was my son's and no I didn't co-sign. It is adversly
It is easy for the bank and the credit reporting agencies to clear this confusio...
what are the proper and legal steps to dissolve a partnership in an ongoing farm business?
I would say that the final tax forms are dispersed for that year with the indica...
How to remedy false information on credit reports?
Was the boat repossessed? if so it is not an incorrect report. If the loan was p...
If a person defames me and threatens me to pay a bill that they made and it is posted to others besides myself, can I sue ?
The documentation of your actions in this case pretty much preclude any legal ac...
Is it libel to write blog posts and/or online reviews about a local business that defames one's reputation?
Libel is the form of defamation expressed in fixed-- usually written form. Sland...

Some elses debt is being reported by a bank to the crecit agencies. They know and have ackowledged it is not mine, yet it is still being listed as mine. it was my son's and no I didn't co-sign. It is adversly
It is easy for the bank and the credit reporting agencies to clear this confusio...
what are the proper and legal steps to dissolve a partnership in an ongoing farm business?
I would say that the final tax forms are dispersed for that year with the indica...
How to remedy false information on credit reports?
Was the boat repossessed? if so it is not an incorrect report. If the loan was p...
If a person defames me and threatens me to pay a bill that they made and it is posted to others besides myself, can I sue ?
The documentation of your actions in this case pretty much preclude any legal ac...
Is it libel to write blog posts and/or online reviews about a local business that defames one's reputation?
Libel is the form of defamation expressed in fixed-- usually written form. Sland...








