Alert – Virtual Annual Meetings in Response to COVID-19

March 23, 2020

To our clients and friends:

Many companies are evaluating how best to hold their upcoming annual shareholder meetings in light of the health risks posed by COVID-19. For companies contemplating holding a virtual annual meeting, our alert, which is available here, provides legal and practical considerations.

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Alert – NCUA’s Proposed Bank Acquisition Rules

March 2, 2020

To our clients and friends:

Acquisitions by credit unions of banks have become much more common over the last few years. As a result, the National Credit Union Administration (the “NCUA”) recently issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (the “Proposed Rule”) to prescribe procedures for reviewing and approving bank acquisitions by federally-insured credit unions (“FICUs”). Specifically, the Proposed Rule: (1) stipulates the information about the bank acquisition transaction that must be provided to the NCUA; (2) provides that all bank acquisition transactions require the prior approval of the NCUA and, for state-chartered FICUs, the prior approval of their state regulators; and (3) ensures that the directors of the FICU proposing a bank acquisition transaction understand the nature and ramifications of the transaction.

Credit unions seeking to acquire banks should understand that there are unique issues involved, such as the manner in which a bank acquisition transaction would be structured and its effects, the regulatory approval process to complete the transaction (including the process applicable to a target bank) and how field of membership issues and impermissible assets and activities of the target bank will be addressed.

Our Alert, which summarizes the key provisions of the Proposed Rule, is available here.

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Federal Reserve Bank Control Rules

February 21, 2020

To our clients and friends:

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System has adopted new rules regarding when an investor will be presumed to have, directly or indirectly, acquired control of a banking organization for purposes of the Bank Holding Company Act and the Home Owners’ Loan Act. The new rules, which clarify some of the Federal Reserve’s existing rules and interpretations, relax certain presumptions of control and eliminate, with a few exceptions, the use of passivity agreements. The new rules will become effective April 1, 2020.

Our Alert, which summarizes the key provisions of the new rules, is available here.

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FDIC Proposes to Modernize its Brokered Deposit Rules

December 23, 2019

To our clients and friends:

On December 12, 2019, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (the “Proposed Rule”) to modernize certain aspects of the FDIC’s brokered deposit regulatory framework so that the classification of a brokered deposit appropriately reflects technological changes in the banking industry.

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