Financial Institutions

Fannie Mae Pushing Foreclosures

08/14/11

Story in the Detroit Free Press today here, and my commentary at Consumer Law & Policy here.

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NY AG Unsheathes Excalibur

08/04/11

NY AG Eric Schneiderman came out with guns blazing in the proposed Countrywide investor settlement litigation.  It his filing intervening in the action and suing Bank of New York Mellon for breach of fiduciary duty, persistent fraud, and violations of the Martin Act (the "Excalibur" of the NY AG), General Schneiderman didn't mince words. [more]

A Template for MBS Settlements and How Safety-and-Soundness Regulation Is Incompatible with Law Enforcement

07/02/11

Over the past couple of years, the Massachusetts Attorney General's office has reached settlements with a number of major banks regarding mortgage securitization. These settlements has received very little notice in the press, but I think they provide a real template for future AG settelements and are worth examining. 

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The Politics of the Durbin Rulemaking

07/01/11

It goes without saying that I think the Fed did a real jerk move on the Durbin Amendment rulemaking. But the more interesting issue is why? 

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Banks Refusing to Honor Their Own CD Maturity Dates? We have the Answer!

07/01/11

Has anyone faced this issue? Karen Talley in my law school’s IT Department did. She received a notice from Bank of America, stating that “Your CD will be maturing soon. The account number, maturity date, and other information pertaining to your CD are listed below:

Account Number:    XXXXX
Current Product: FIXED TERM CD
Current term:    18 months
Maturity date:    April 23, 2011

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The BoA MBS Settlement

06/30/11

The $8.5B dollar figure of the Bank of America settlement with a cohort of MBS investors has gotten all the attention, but I think there's a bunch of more interesting things going on than the price tag.  Still, it's hard not to talk about the price tag, so let's get that out of the way.

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The Fed Bails Out the Banks...Again

06/29/11

If anyone doubted who set the marching tune for the Federal Reserve Board, it was sure clear today. The Fed announced its final rule under the Durbin Interchange Amendment, and it was quite the handout to the big banks.  

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Why I Was the Skunk at the Party

06/16/11

Yesterday's hearing -- my Dealbook on it here -- was clearly all about political posturing: the Democrats are defensive about Dodd-Frank, rightly afraid that any change to it becomes a chance to repeal or gut, while the Republicans too often veer off into some free market rhetoric that really makes no sense when you are talking about financial institutions. Since when have banks been subject to the free market?

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OLA and Too Big to Fail

06/14/11

I'm off to D.C. this morning to talk with the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions regarding my thoughts on Dodd-Frank’s Orderly Liquidation Authority. My written testimony is here.

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Oh Swell

06/09/11

Alphaville has a very important post on AIG's attempt to gross up its ROE post-bailout.

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