MVA White Collar Defense, Investigations, and Regulatory Advice Blog

Moore & Van Allen (MVA) Litigation Member Jim McLoughlin and Financial Regulatory Advice & Response Member Neil Bloomfield‘s article titled, “3rd Circuit panel raises the bar on risk disclosures as the trend toward greater disclosure continues” was published by Westlaw on March 30, 2021.

The Article

It had been an article of faith in the securities legal community that a registrant has no obligation to disclose possible wrongdoing or a government investigation into its conduct absent some statement that would be rendered misleading without such a disclosure.

However, in ...

Moore & Van Allen (MVA) Senior Counsel Tandy Mathis will be presenting during the NCBAR 2021 International Practice Section Program webcast, “The World Spins Madly On: Making Sense of the Current State of International Law Practicing International Law in the Digital Age,” taking place on March 25. Tandy will present on the session titled, “Practicing International Law in the Digital Age.”

This session concentrates on e-discovery, privacy, and security issues unique to international law practitioners. Explore how these issues and digital solutions are continuing to ...

MVA Financial Regulatory Advice and Response Member Barbara Meeks and Associate Jules Carter will serve as panelists for the Lorman webinar titled, “BSA/AML Customer Identification Program and Due Diligence Basics” which will take place on March 11.

This webinar will provide an overview of BSA/AML/Know Your Customer (KYC) components,  including the Customer Identification Program (CIP) and beneficial owner Customer Due Diligence (CDD) Rules. They will cover key definitions and procedural issues for compliance and highlight areas of risk for enhanced due ...

MVA Financial Services Member Lauren Biek, Co-head of Financial Regulatory Advice and Response Neil Bloomfield, and Financial Services Counsel Ed Ivey will serve as panelists during the NCBA: The Business Lawyer as First Responder, 2021 Business Law Section Program. This live webcast will take place on February 11. Additionally, Financial Services Member Kimberly Zirkle serves on the planning committee for the Business Law Section program.
 
The panel titled, “SOFR, So Good? Current Issues in Credit Agreements” will highlight the differences in approach ...

Moore & Van Allen (MVA) Co-head of the White Collar, Regulatory Defense & Investigations practice and member of the firm’s Management Committee, Valecia McDowell has been highlighted in the Business North Carolina article titled, “Dynamic Diversity: The Changing Look of N.C. Executive Power,” published on February 1. The article also mentions area CEOs Marvin Ellison of Lowe’s and Gene Woods of Atrium Health.
 
To view the complete Business North Carolina article, please click here.

Moore & Van Allen (MVA) Co-head of the White Collar, Regulatory Defense and Investigations practice and a member of the firm’s Management Committee, Valecia McDowell, will be teaching the LAW 832 - Internal Investigations course during the winter session for Duke Law on February 19 - 21.
 
During this course, students will study the range of legal and practical issues in the conduct of in-house investigations of potential illegal conduct by corporate employees and officers. Students will participate in simulated exercises involving interviews of company employees in the ...

Moore & Van Allen (MVA) Financial Regulatory Advice and Response Member Ed O’Keefe will serve as the moderator for the panel titled, “Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 on Bank Health” during the Banking Institute Program which will take place March 18-19. Ed’s panel includes senior representatives of the OCC, Federal Reserve, NC Department of Banking and the Bank Policy Institute.

This year's Institute agenda also includes panels on: 

• The Current State of the LIBOR Transition
• Diversity and Inclusion: A Business Imperative
• Bank Partnerships with FinTech Firms

And ...

MVA Financial Services Counsel Ed Ivey‘s article titled “Election Season Special: 2021 Candidates for LIBOR Replacement” was recently published in the Futures & Derivatives Law Report, a Thomson Reuters publication. The article provides an overview and analysis regarding the various non-SOFR alternative reference rates, such as Ameribor, and issues related to the chances such rates have at being adopted and widely used in the market.
 
The article
Get excited. The next big election season is about to kick-off. The London Inter- bank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) is ...

Charlotte White Collar, Regulatory Defense and Investigations Member Valecia M. McDowell and Financial Regulatory Advice and Response Member Edward O'Keefe will both serve as speakers at the 2020 SIFMA C&L Annual Seminar.

MVA's Human Trafficking Pro Bono Project Leader, Sarah Byrne and her fight for victims of human trafficking was highlighted by Charlotte Magazine. The article titled, "Charlotte Attorney Sarah Byrne on Fighting for Victims of Human Trafficking" was published on February 13. Read the full article here.

Charlotte Financial Regulatory Advice & Response Co-Head Neil Bloomfield served as a panelist for Mecklenburg County Bar’s 19^th Annual Banking and Finance Forum which took place on November 22. Bloomfield joined others from Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Bryan Cave to discuss “LIBOR Transition Challenges.”  During the panel, Mr. Bloomfield discussed the latest regulatory guidance and best practices in managing the transition away from LIBOR to SOFR.  

MVA is proud to once again be a sponsoring partner for The Clearing House + Bank Policy Institute Annual Conference, which took take place in New York on November 19–21. Now in its ninth year, The Clearing House + Bank Policy Institute Annual Conference is the leading conference for key regulatory, legal, and payments issues facing America’s largest commercial banks. Held for two and a half days at The Pierre Hotel in New York, the TCH + BPI Annual Conference brings together the industry’s leading executives and thought leaders – C-suite financial services executives ...

Charlotte Financial Regulatory Advice and Response Members Barbara Meeks and Ed O'Keefe's article titled, "Pursuit of a Regulatory Practice Dream: The Story of 2 Powerhouse Bank GCs Uniting," was published by Corporate Counsel on July 26, 2019. In the article, Meeks and O'Keefe share their personal vision for a world-class bank regulatory practice that would provide practical, innovative results while retaining Southeastern rates and culture.

The Article

Historically, financial regulatory lawyers have rooted themselves in New York or Washington, D.C. to develop thriving ...

Moore & Van Allen is pleased to be a Gold sponsor at the 2019 SIFMA C&L Annual Seminar. Charlotte Litigation Members Edward O'Keefe and Valecia M. McDowell have been invited to serve as panelists for this year’s seminar. O’Keefe will contribute to the Tuesday, March 26, 2019 afternoon panel entitled “Intersection of Banking and Wealth Management” and McDowell will join the discussion for the Wednesday, March 27, 2019 morning panel entitled “What is Conduct Risk Data and How do you use it?” 

SIFMA’s C&L Annual Seminar is the premier event for compliance and legal ...

Charlotte Associate Brian Soja, a member of MVA’s Financial Regulatory Advice and Response and White Collar, Regulatory Defense, and Investigations practice groups, served as a panelist at Mecklenburg County Bar’s 18^th Banking and Finance Forum on November 9.  Soja participated in the Forum’s Regulatory Highlights panel along with Phil Wertz of Bank of America, John Stoker of Wells Fargo, Grant Harbrecht of Fifth Third, and Scott Cammarn of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft.  During the panel, which focused on significant regulatory developments over the past year, Soja ...

2018 ANNUAL CONFERENCE (Nov. 2018): We are proud to once again be a sponsoring partner for The Clearing House + Bank Policy Institute Annual Conference, which will take place in New York on November 26–28, 2018.  The Annual Conference provides a forum for the industry’s leaders to examine the changing dynamics of the bank regulatory and payments landscape.  Keynote speakers for this year’s conference include Jelena McWilliams, Chair of the FDIC, Antony Phillipson, British Consul General in New York and HM Trade Commissioner for North America, Richard Clarida, Vice Chairman of ...

Charlotte Litigation Members Neil Bloomfield and Ed O’Keefe will be serving as panelists at the upcoming SIFMA Compliance and Legal Society's Charlotte Regional Seminar on Monday, September 24, 2018. This one day seminar feature presentations by leading securities regulators and industry professionals.  Bloomfield will be speaking on the Privacy and Cybersecurity Issues panel alongside Keith Agisim (Moderator, Bank of America), Michael Adams (McGuireWoods), James Powell (LPL Financial LLC), and John Reed Stark (John Reed Stark Consulting, LLC).  O’Keefe ...

Members of MVA’s Privacy and Data Security team, Charlotte Member Neil Bloomfield, Charlotte Counsel Tandy Mathis and Charlotte Associate Nathan White were speakers for the latest Privacy and Data Security Seminar that was held on August 22, 2018. This seminar discussed the data management challenges in today’s government investigations. This is an area undergoing significant changes in light of GDPR, the CLOUD Act and the impending suspension of the Privacy Shield. This CLE focused on both the legal restrictions and practical challenges confronting U.S. counsel when ...

Neil Bloomfield presented at the SIFMA C&L Annual Seminar on March 20, 2018.  Mr. Bloomfield provided an outside counsel perspective on managing large scale litigation and investigations.  The panel focused on incorporating project management techniques from business into the practice of law and innovations in technology and processes that can make the practice more efficient and effective. Mr. Bloomfield presented alongside experts from Integreon and Fidelity Investments.  SIFMA’s C&L Annual Seminar is the premier event for compliance and legal professionals working ...

Neil Bloomfield and Ed O’Keefe are coordinating a panel titled "LIBOR and the Potential Replacement Reference Rates: Where Do We Go from Here?" for the UNC Banking Institute on March 22 at the Ritz-Carlton in Charlotte, NC. Speakers on the panel include Ann Battle of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc., David Bloom of SunTrust Banks, Inc., Raymond Check of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Harriet Hunnable of the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority and Joaquin M. Sena of Bank of America.

The panel will discuss how the potential transition away from LIBOR has ...

Charlotte Litigation Member Ed O’Keefe will be presenting at the 2018 Financial Markets Association Conference on April 18, 2018. His presentation will discuss key legislative and regulatory initiatives affecting financial services companies, the rulemaking agenda for the SEC and the CFTC, and regulatory burden relief initiatives undertaken by the banking agencies to date.

For additional information on this event, click here.

Moore & Van Allen PLLC is pleased to announce that Kristina (“Kris”) B. Whittaker, former Deputy Comptroller for Special Supervision in the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), has joined the firm’s Charlotte office as Counsel. Whittaker will practice on Moore and Van Allen’s growing Financial Regulatory Advice and Response team. *

“Kris’ valuable experience and longstanding esteem within the OCC will greatly benefit our clients and increase our practice capabilities,” said Charlotte Member Edward P. O’Keefe. “Kris brings more ...

Neil Bloomfield, Rob Kenny, and Zack King joined with Jim Blair from WCM Global Wealth for a presentation to the Association of Corporate Counsel on a future of the markets where LIBOR may no longer exist. In a speech on July 27, 2017, Andrew Bailey, the Chief Executive of the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), discussed the future of LIBOR. Mr. Bailey explained that work must begin in earnest to plan for the transition away from LIBOR. He explained that the FCA had spoken to “current panel banks about agreeing voluntarily to sustain LIBOR for a four to five-year period, i.e ...

James P. McLoughlin, Jr., Neil T. Bloomfield, and Elena F. Mitchell issued a Client Advisory Update titled "Judge Refuses to Dismiss SEC Action Against RPM International and Its General Counsel Alleging Loss Contingency Disclosure Failures." On Friday September 29, 2017, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson denied the motions to dismiss filed by RPM International, Inc. and its general counsel, Edward Moore, discussed in our previous Client Advisory. Judge Jackson concluded the SEC’s allegations stated plausible fraud claims against RPM and Moore and RPM and Moore had ...

James P. McLoughlin, Jr., Neil T. Bloomfield, and Frank E. Schall issued a Client Advisory titled "Timely Disclosure of Investigation Loss Contingencies: The SEC’s Aggressive Enforcement Stance." The Advisory discusses SEC v. RPM International, Inc., No. 16-01803 (D.D.C. filed Sept. 9, 2016), in which the SEC has pushed its aggressive litigation strategy in pursuit of its policy of compelling registrants to accelerate loss contingency disclosures. The SEC filed against RPM International, Inc. and its general counsel, Edward Moore, alleging the failure to disclose a ...

Jim McLoughlin, Ed O’Keefe and Tom Pennington issued a client alert titled, “Focusing on the Mission While Watching Macro Trends,” on August 16, 2017. The alert provides clients with guidance on how to focus on a commonly understood corporate mission while watching for macro trends which ultimately will reduce the risk of unstable environments. The three macro trends discussed in the article include: The US Common Market Is Fraying; Reduced Returns Heighten Focus on Costs; and Process-Based Management Can Be More Fully Deployed. Click here to read more.