Search results for

You are a small to mid-size bank and you have learned you are the target of a probe by US regulators. Baker & McKenzie's Marnin Michaels, George Clarke and Doug Tween explain what should you do

Jones Day's John Ahern explains why China’s growing role in Europe will test the region’s changing regulatory attitudes towards foreign banks

A recent tax case out of the Fifth Circuit approved a taxpayer's strategy to make the best of a bad investment. According to the facts of Pilgrim's Pride v Commissioner, the taxpayer purchased preferred stock from two corporations (Issuers) for a total of $98.6 million in 1999. By 2004, the stock had declined significantly in value and the Issuers offered to buy back the stock for $20 million. The taxpayer determined that the best course of action was to abandon the stock for no consideration because a $98.6 million ordinary abandonment loss would generate tax savings more valuable than the $20 million offered by the Issuers. Accordingly, the taxpayer surrendered the stock to the Issuers, terminating its ownership rights with respect to the Issuers. The taxpayer then claimed an ordinary loss of $98.6 million. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) disagreed with the character of the loss, arguing that the abandonment should be treated as a sale or exchange, resulting in a capital loss (subject to limitation), rather than an ordinary loss.

The country's new corporate governance code makes incremental improvements to its predecessor. Uría Menéndez's Carlos Franco Duque analyses whether it goes far enough

Banks have much to gain from the new breed of lenders gaining prominence across Europe. But as McGuireWoods' Marc Isaacs and Alan Holliday explain, they must learn to work with their new competition

Municipalities’ path to recovery under the US Bankruptcy Code is just as clear The US Bankruptcy Code is one of the clearest and most respected in the world. Companies facing insolvency try to leverage off any US connection they might have to gain access to it. Corporates' use of Chapter 11 has increased tremendously over the last decade. Foreign companies including Overseas Shipholding Group, CEDC Vodka and Maxcom have all used US assets, subsidiaries or registrations as a means to file bankruptcy under US law. Debtors and creditors typically have more confidence in the outcome when a proceeding is handled in this well tested way.

Daniel Hayek, Christina Meyer and Chantal Joris of Prager Dreifuss examine the revised Swiss insolvency law and its implications for debtors and creditors

Mark Brown and Alex Ping of Al Tamimi & Company look at recent developments in the UAE legal system affecting the financial sector and the establishment of the Abu Dhabi Global Market

Companies will be forced to be more innovative in their funding The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) recent proposal to further limit banks' exposure to a single corporate and connected parties could prompt companies to tap the local debt capital markets. In a March 27 discussion paper, the regulator proposed capping exposure to connected counterparties at 25% of a financial institution's eligible capital base.

John Breslin Karole Cuddihy Banks and other financial institutions operate in a highly regulated environment. Issues frequently arise where an institution has breached a regulatory requirement but seeks to enforce its contractual rights; for instance, where there is a regulatory breach in the formation of a loan contract and the institution seeks to recover the loan or enforce security for the loan. The legal issues which arise are complicated. In a recent decision (Quinn v IBRC [2015] IESC 29), the Irish Supreme Court indicated the general approach the courts should take. The plaintiffs had provided security for loans which were said to have been illegal under financial assistance prohibitions and market abuse rules. In brief, they alleged that the defendant bank had lent money to a number of corporate investors (effectively controlled by their father/husband) to enable those investors to fund contracts for difference (CFD) positions in the bank's shares (which were at the time listed on the Irish Stock Exchange). The plaintiffs claimed that this illegality rendered their obligations under the security contracts unenforceable. The High Court held, in determining this preliminary issue, that the plaintiffs were entitled to advance and rely on an argument that the security contracts and contracts of guarantee were unenforceable for reasons of public policy (on the basis that a court will not assist in the enforcement of an illegal contract). The bank appealed to the Supreme Court.