On April 26, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of three residential mortgage-backed securities lawsuits tied to losses incurred during the 2008 financial crisis. The plaintiffs, issuers of...more
N.D. California federal judge Lucy Koh sided with the FTC in its antitrust suit against semiconductor-industry giant Qualcomm, finding that the company “abused its position . . . to harm competition and charge cellphone...more
A typical collateralized debt financing involves a variety of service providers that owe fiduciary duties to investors. In a recent decision handed down in New York State Supreme Court, Commonwealth Advisors, Inc. v. Wells...more
Financial Industry Developments - CFPB Proposes to Provide Flexibility in Collecting Information - On March 24, 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") released a proposal to amend Equal Credit...more
Financial Industry Developments - House Committee on Financial Services Comments on OCC Fintech Charter - All 34 Republican members of the Financial Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, including...more
On March 3, 2017, the First Department of the Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s ruling and ordered summary judgment to be entered in favor of the defendant, TCW Asset Management Company...more
On March 2, 2017, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department reversed a decision from the New York Supreme Court and dismissed a complaint filed by two hedge funds against the collateral manager of a...more
After markets closed on Friday the 13th, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced an $864 million settlement regarding Moody’s credit ratings of residential mortgage-backed securities (“RMBS”) and collateralized debt...more
Financial Industry Developments - CTFC Approves Proposed Rules Addressing Application of Certain CEA Regulations to Cross-Border Transactions - On October 11, 2016, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission...more
On October 11, 2016, S&P published its methodology for surveilling ratings of U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities principal only strip securities. Report. On October 7, 2016, Moody’s published its rating methodology...more
Financial Industry Developments - CFTC Announces Measures to Enhance Protection of Customer Funds - On August 8, 2016, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced three separate enhancements...more
Case Update: Madden v. Midland Funding - ?On May 22, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held in Madden v. Midland Funding that the federal preemption provision of the National Bank Act, 12 U.S.C. §...more
On September 24, DBRS published a report describing its approach for monitoring European CMBS ratings. On September 25, DBRS published its methodology for rating European RMBS transactions issued in Europe with residential...more
Goldman Sachs Wins Summary Judgment In CDO Class Action - On September 8, 2015, the Southern District of New York granted summary judgment in favor of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. in a class action lawsuit concerning the...more
On April 23, Fitch released its updated criteria for rating operational risk of U.S. servicers of RMBS and small balance commercial securities. On April 23, Fitch released its updated criteria for rating operational risk of...more
On February 2, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services settled claims brought by the Department of Justice, 19 states and the District of Columbia related to credit ratings it issued and maintained for RMBS and CDOs before the...more
On February 3, the Department of Justice and 19 State Attorneys General announced their $1.375 Billion settlement of DOJ’s FIRREA suit and related State AG actions against Standard & Poor’s and its parent McGraw-Hill...more
The DOJ’s settlement with S&P for $1.4 billion, coupled with admissions of fact, made headlines this week. The settlement was joined by 19 states and the District of Columbia. The DOJ and the states will essentially split the...more
2015 is leaving Standard and Poor’s (S&P) quite a bit poorer. Yesterday, the major credit rating agency agreed to pay $1.375 billion to resolve lawsuits brought against it by the U.S. Department of Justice and attorney...more
The Department of Justice, in conjunction with 19 states and the District of Columbia, resolved market crisis era suits in a $1.375 billion settlement. The DOJ suit named as defendants rating agency Standard & Poor’s...more
Bank of England Publishes Statement on Enforcement Action Against Lloyds Bank PLC and Bank of Scotland PLC - On July 28, the Bank of England published a statement on Financial Conduct Authority enforcement action...more
On June 4, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated a November 28, 2011, decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in which the district court declined to approve a settlement...more
At the end of last month the Second Circuit clarified its position on the application of Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., 130 S. Ct. 2869 (2010) to RICO. Now the Circuit Court had resolved an open question regarding...more
On March 19, S&P released its methodology for rating CDOs of project finance debt. On March 17, Fitch released its criteria for analyzing RMBS under the Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage rules....more
BCBS Finalizes Risk Management Guidelines on AML and Terrorist Financing - On January 15, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) issued risk management guidelines relating to anti-money laundering (AML) and...more