A federal court has rejected an attempt by former First Republic Bank employees to recover assets held in a rabbi trust that funded deferred compensation benefits. In Harrington v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the...more
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”) recently issued the agency’s semi-annual perspective on key risks facing banks in 2024 with a special focus on potential threats to safety and soundness. The OCC...more
Three federal regulators have reproposed rules that implement the requirements for bank incentive compensation programs that were included in the Dodd-Frank legislation 14 years ago. Section 956 of Dodd-Frank required the...more
A federal district judge in Texas has enjoined federal bank regulators from enforcing the recently overhauled Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) rules. The injunction was issued on the eve of the first effective date under...more
Operational resilience is the ability of a bank to prepare for, adapt to, and withstand or recover from disruptions. These disruptions flow from external events such as natural disasters, malicious actors, pandemics, or...more
On January 29, 2024, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the “OCC”) proposed guidance in the form of a policy statement to provide greater transparency around the factors considered by the agency when approving...more
The last two years have seen a significant uptick in the number of transactions involving credit union acquisitions of banks with 26 deals announced and two transactions already announced in 2024. Yet, the law around these...more
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) has issued a final rule that imposes a special assessment on insured depository institutions (“IDIs”) to recover losses realized by the Deposit Insurance Fund (the “DIF”)...more
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) has proposed formal corporate governance and risk management standards for banks with assets of $10 billion or more that are subject to FDIC supervision. The detailed...more
The Federal Reserve Board (“FRB”) Inspector General (the “OIG”) has issued a highly critical report regarding FRB supervision of Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) in the years preceding the bank’s failure in March 2023. The...more
The Federal Reserve Board (the “FRB”) has signaled a new approach to the oversight of “novel” activities by banks subject to FRB supervision. In a recent letter to supervisory staff, the FRB indicated that it would introduce...more
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will launch a new portal to provide a more efficient means for bank personnel to respond to information and document requests during the consumer and Community Reinvestment Act...more
A recent survey of bank executives reported that cloud computing was a top-five spending priority and eight out of ten respondents indicated that at least twenty percent of their operations would be in the cloud by the end of...more
A periodic review of regulatory enforcement actions is a useful guide to what not to do in the financial services sector. This post focuses on several recent enforcement actions – one by the Federal Reserve Board (the...more
The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee approved legislation on June 21, 2023 with bipartisan support that would provide federal bank regulators with enhanced powers to hold senior executives directly...more
A toxic combination of poor risk management and poor regulatory supervision proved fatal for Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) and Signature Bank (“Signature”), according to a series of reports released on April 28, 2023 by federal...more