MVA White Collar Defense, Investigations, and Regulatory Advice Blog

Last month marked the tenth anniversary of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council adoption of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (“UNGPs”), setting forth the internationally-accepted framework for the role of businesses in promoting and protecting human rights. These principles highlight the risks businesses face in their activities that may be linked to human rights violations. According to the UNGPs, “[b]usiness enterprises should respect human rights. This means that they should avoid infringing on the human rights of others and should address ...

In a recent speech, the new SEC Chairman, Gary Gensler, came out questioning the use of BSBY as a replacement to LIBOR, by highlighting a number of “concerns” he has with BSBY and why SOFR is preferable.

HERE is the speech. The last half focuses on BSBY.

Gensler focused largely on the transaction data which underpins BSBY versus the transaction data which underpins SOFR. Here, SOFR has not only a clear advantage, but Gensler also notes weakness in BSBY in the 6- and 12-month tenors. However, there is an important difference between SOFR and BSBY that should have been noted by Gensler ...

In a press release (HERE) on June 8th, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) published its first release in a series called the “SOFR First Transition Initiative” as a best practice. One goal for this sort of “best practice” is to impact the liquidity in LIBOR and SOFR swaps, thereby slowly (a) increasing the spread on LIBOR swaps and (b) tightening the spread on SOFR swaps. In other words, make LIBOR swaps more expensive and SOFR swaps less expensive. Even for non-dealers, this announcement is important as it is not only a major step in such non-dealers’ ...

In AMG Capital Management v. FTC, a unanimous Supreme Court recently struck the Federal Trade Commission’s (the FTC) power to obtain monetary relief under § 13(b) of the FTC Act (the Act). Under § 13(b), the FTC can seek the aid of a court to obtain a permanent injunction. The issue the court addressed is whether Congress, by enacting § 13(b) and using the words “permanent injunction”, granted the FTC authority to obtain monetary relief directly from the courts rather than through the administrative process, which ultimately allows for such relief. The Court held the FTC is not ...

For the first time in nearly a decade, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Farm Credit Administration, and the National Credit Union Administration (the Agencies) have proposed new, revised, and reorganized guidance on flood insurance (the Q&As). The Agencies published a first set of 118 proposed Q&As in July 2020, and a second set of 24 proposed Q&As relating to private insurance specifically on March 11, 2021. After the Q&As are consolidated into a single set and finalized, they ...

On April 5, 2021 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a proposed rule entitled Protections for Borrowers Affected by the COVID-19 Emergency Under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), Regulation X. The proposed amendments to Regulation X are aimed to ensure that the approximately 2.5 million borrowers still in forbearance programs will not be ushered immediately into foreclosure when their respective COVID-related forbearance ends. 

The proposed amendments, which apply only to mortgage loans secured by principal residences, contemplate a ...

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 ...

Summary

Last Friday, the IBA published its Feedback Statement on Consultation on Potential Cessation.

The relevant dates regarding cessation are the same in the November request for comment – i.e., all LIBOR settings will either cease to be provided by any administrator or no longer be representative:

• immediately after 31 December 2021, in the case of all sterling, euro, Swiss franc and Japanese yen settings, and the 1-week and 2-month US dollar settings; and,
• immediately after 30 June 2023, in the case of the remaining US dollar settings.

Canada has designated the Proud Boys as a terrorist entity, meaning that banks and other financial services providers will no longer be allowed to deal with or facilitate transactions concerning property controlled by the group. The restrictions will apply to U.S. financial institutions in their activities within Canada and will extend to cover the activities of Canadian institutions outside of Canada.

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 ...