The Obama Administration has announced a comprehensive plan for regulatory reform of the financial services industry. The plan, entitled “A New Foundation: Rebuilding Financial Supervision and Regulation” was announced by President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner at the White House on Wednesday, June 17, 2009. [Read more →]

Last week, the House of Representatives’ Committee on Financial Services held hearings on “Compensation Structure and Systemic Risk.” The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering similar matters, and Chairman Schapiro has promised that in July the Commission will propose rules requiring additional disclosure regarding how boards consider risks generally and more specifically in the context of compensation setting. [Read more →]

In the aftermath of the capital market, credit market and banking crises that have gripped the U.S. economy, President Obama and his administration have called for broad reforms of the American financial system.  To that end, the United States Department of the Treasury released the General Explanations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2010 Revenue Proposals (the “Tax Proposals”) on May 11, 2009.  [Read more →]

The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009

On May 20, 2009, the President signed The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. The new law contains a number of provisions, including amendments to the HOPE for Homeowners Program, protections for servicers of mortgage loans who modify mortgage loans, and extensions of the credit facilities from the U.S. Treasury to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. However, Section 404 of the Act amends the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) to require that a new notice be given to consumers within 30 days after the sale, transfer or assignment of the consumer’s mortgage loan. [Read more →]

In addition to the previous announcement that commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) issued on or after January 1, 2009 are eligible collateral under the TALF, the Federal Reserve has announced that certain high-quality commercial mortgage-backed securities issued before January 1, 2009 (legacy CMBS) will become eligible collateral. [Read more →]

In the aftermath of the capital market, credit market and banking crises that have gripped the U.S. economy, President Obama and his administration have called for broad reforms of the American financial system.  President Obama recently suggested that a “more vigorous regulatory regime” would restore confidence in the American financial system and attract foreign capital to U.S.-based investments.  To that end, three notable bills have been introduced since Obama’s inauguration on January 20, 2009.  [Read more →]

Today, May 20, 2009, President Obama signed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, authorizing more than $280 million for federal fraud enforcement and specifically expanding the reach of federal fraud statutes.  With the powers now being aggressively exercised by the Special Inspector General for the Toxic Asset Recovery Program, and the mandate issued to the inspectors general of all funding agencies under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,  criminal, civil and administrative scrutiny of the use and accounting for all federal funding and private lending practices will be intense.  [Read more →]

On March 31, 2009, the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (the “Councils”) issued interim regulations implementing the Buy American restrictions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“Recovery Act”).  These rules form a new section of the Federal Acquisitions Regulations (“FAR”) and add four new contract clauses to be included as appropriate in solicitations involving Recovery Act funds.  Comments on the interim FAR rules will be accepted through June 1, 2009 for consideration in the formulation of final rules.  Final rules will be issued once all comments are reviewed and the Councils finalize any modifications to the interim rules.  It is not certain how long it will be before the final rules are issued.   [Read more →]

The Treasury Department announced that the results of its comprehensive bank stress tests will be made available soon. The comprehensive stress tests and other traditional methods of evaluating bank performance are yielding results that some banks will find of critical importance in dealing with regulators, their customers and their shareholders. The public disclosure of this information by Treasury complicates matters. During this critical time, financial institutions in crisis need to focus on four key areas among the many challenges they face. [Read more →]

On April 24, 2009 President Obama signed an amendment to the Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 adding specific powers to those given in the Act to the Special Inspector General for the Toxic Asset Recovery Program (“SIGTARP”). [Read more →]