In a speech that was ostensibly on the progress of the Capital Markets Union, Steven Maijoor, the Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA") announced, that ESMA is planning possible measures to avoid a...more
Shareholders have accused Under Armour of “concealing the impact” of Sports Authority’s bankruptcy from investors in order to artificially inflate its stock price. The suit comes on the heels of a disastrous Q4 for UA, in...more
Financial Industry Developments - Class Action Against Lending Club and WebBank Headed to Defeat - On Monday, January 31, 2017, a federal district court in the Southern District of New York granted a motion to...more
RBS has agreed to pay $85 million to the CFTC to resolve allegations that its traders “manipulated the ISDAfix benchmark rate over a period of five years to benefit the bank’s derivatives positions”....more
Financial Industry Developments - 2016 Data Breach Legislation Roundup: What to Know Going Forward - States were busy updating their data breach notification statutes in 2016. With 2016 in the rear view, let's take...more
Deutsche Bank and the DOJ have put the finishing touches on the deal to resolve the investigation into DB’s role in its sale of toxic RMBS. The bank will fork over $7.2 billion in total, including a $3.1 billion civil penalty...more
Rating Agency Developments - On November 2, 2016, DBRS published a report entitled Unified Interest Rate Model for European Securitisations...more
So, it turns out that all of the Brexit-style market freefalling was reserved for overnight trading. US markets actually closed up yesterday after modest opening losses....more
Three months after the United Kingdom voted to exit the European Union, the timing and scope of Brexit remain unclear. Until such details are determined with specificity, there is and will continue to be increased economic...more
The Japanese government has stepped into the Brexit debate with an unprecedented warning to the EU and the UK, saying that Japanese inbound investment into the UK could be put at risk by Brexit particularly if withdrawal...more
FCA Chief Executive Comments on FCA Mission and Brexit - The FCA has published a speech by Andrew Bailey, FCA Chief Executive, at the FCA's 2016 annual public meeting on 19 July 2016. Mr Bailey stated that the FCA...more
As foreshadowed a few weeks ago, the Bank of England has cut its main interest rate to an historically low .25 percent in an effort to address the impact of June’s Brexit vote. The BOE will start bond buying in September....more
Stock Market Commentary - The markets endured much drama in the two weeks leading up to quarter - end as the surprise exit of the U.K. from the European Union rattled investors. Brexit knocked over 5% off of the S&P...more
The German bund broke new ground yesterday by going negative—the first 10-year debt offering in the Eurozone to do so—and still going like gangbusters. Germany sold $5.3 billion in the bonds....more
The British public voted to leave the European Union on Thursday 23 June. What happens next is far from certain. The implications for global M&A markets are, accordingly, equally far from certain. The volume of M&A...more
How often are we going to be hearing about Brexit aftershocks? I’d expect you better get used to it. Today’s edition: two other real estate funds (these run by Aviva ad M&G) have joined Standard Life in freezing withdrawals...more
Big financial firm stress test results are out from the Fed later today, and though all banks proved up to the task of reserving enough capital (as reported last Friday), the economic downturn simulation that’s part of round...more
The leadership void at the top in the UK isn’t helping matters at all, as resignations among both major parties reign supreme in the aftermath of the Leave vote....more
The UK has voted to leave the EU, but what happens next is undecided. For now, nothing changes. The June 23 referendum was advisory, and the actual processes and mechanisms that will determine the UK’s exit from the EU will...more