Practice Areas & Industries: Arnold & Porter LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

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As we experience financial stress and instability, continued economic pressures are reshaping the financial and regulatory landscape-particularly for financial institutions. The Obama Administration has announced a proposal to reform the US financial services regulatory system, which will be debated by lawmakers in the coming months. Meanwhile, the US Department of the Treasury has been implementing various initiatives under its Financial Stability Plan (FSP), which included programs such as the Capital Assistance Program (CAP), the Consumer and Business Lending Initiative (CBLI), and the Making Home Affordable Program (MHAP). Other government agencies are implementing programs designed to stabilize the financial services industry, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) with its Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP) and the Federal Reserve Board with its Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF), Money Market Investor Funding Facility (MMIFF), Asset Backed Commercial Paper Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility (AMLF), and Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF).

Arnold & Porter's practice areas address many parts of the stimulus package and other financial regulatory issues. Our financial services practice, for example, is widely acknowledged as one of the nation's leading groups. More than 30 lawyers provide US and international clients with comprehensive regulatory, litigation, and transactional services. The practice group handles intricate issues and litigates cases involving the financial services industry at the administrative level and in the state and federal courts, including the US Supreme Court.

Arnold & Porter's multidisciplinary team has been assisting clients in dealing with the special issues that have arisen under various programs and proposals. The team consists of lawyers from our financial services, corporate and securities, hedge fund, compensation and benefits, tax, government contracts, legislative, real estate, bankruptcy, and securities enforcement and litigation areas.

We represent numerous eligible entities participating in Treasury's Capital Purchase Program and working through the issues related to their participation in that program. We also represent participants in the FDIC's TLGP, as well as participants in the MHAP, and the Federal Reserve's programs. In addition, we assist clients who are bidding on loan pools being offered for sale by the FDIC, in its role as receiver for failed financial institutions. Moreover, we are currently serving as counsel to the Federal Housing Finance Agency in its capacity as conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We also are counsel to the Trustees of the AIG Credit Facility Trust, which was established pursuant to a trust agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank and now holds 79.8% of the voting interest in AIG for the sole benefit of the Treasury.

We also represent institutions engaged in recapitalization efforts as a result of recent deterioration in the banking industry and the capital impact arising from recent credit ratings downgrades of private label mortgage backed securities (MBSs) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) in which institutions have invested. Additionally, we represent a number of institutions that are actively seeking to raise capital and a number of private equity and other financial investors in their investments in financial institutions and in financial assets that have been impacted by the current crisis. We are also assisting numerous institutions in working through the regulatory and legal issues related to the valuation of their securities in the current economic environment, as required by generally accepted accounting principles and the federal banking agencies' risk-based capital rules.

We continue to assist clients in connection with proposed legislation on topics including the Troubled Relief Assistance Program (TARP), foreclosure prevention and loan modification, as well as the recent Treasury proposal to reform the financial services regulatory system through, among other things, the elimination of the Office of Thrift Supervision and the creation of new agencies including a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, a National Bank Supervisor, and an Office of National Insurance.

Our multidisciplinary team offers extensive experience in dealing with all of the financial institutions and securities regulatory agencies on the state, federal, and international levels. Many of the attorneys in our financial services practice have served in senior positions in banking agencies, including the Federal Reserve Board, FDIC, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, New York Banking Department, and Federal Home Loan Bank Board (predecessor to the Office of Thrift Supervision), as well as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).