A historic vote was announced overnight that signals a new era for large pension reform. As is often the case, "reform" here means that ordinary, hard-working folks will suffer a significant amount of pain as big companies are relieved of some ... Read full article
Guess who’s sponsoring legislation to facilitate predatory lending? It’s not just the usual suspects from the GOP, but it looks like a number of centrist “New Democrats” are signing up to help predatory financial institutions evade consumer protections. ... Read full article
I'm testifying before the Senate Banking Committee this week about "Fostering Economic Growth: The Role of Financial Institutions in Local Communities". It's the undercard for the Comey hearing. The big point I'm making are that ... Read full article
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas 5th) has an alternative fact problem. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed Hensarling alleged that " Since the CFPB’s advent, the number of banks offering free checking has drastically ... Read full article
The European Commission has just released its proposal for another Insolvency Directive , finally tackling the very sticky issue of substantive harmonization. ... Read full article
A common argument made against regulating small dollar credit products like payday loans is that regulation does nothing to address demand for credit, so consumers will simply substitute their consumption from payday loans to other products: overdraft, ... Read full article
Former Virginia Congressman M. Caldwell Butler died last week. ... Read full article
At today's House Judiciary Committee hearing on Operation Choke Point it seemed that Choke Point 's critics are conflating a fairly narrow DOJ civil investigation with separate general guidance given by prudential regulators. In particular, ... Read full article
Chapter 15’s modified universalism structure requires cooperation between courts in different countries as well as tolerance for outcome differences under different bankruptcy laws. While in general it’s fair to say U.S. courts have been cooperative and ... Read full article
Judging by an ... Read full article
A prior post addressed a proposed amendment to Article 9's official comments stating that the date of an Article 9 filing relates back to the initial filing date even if the debtor did NOT authorize the filing at that time. This post returns to ... Read full article
A few weeks ago I wrote about the importance of giving priority to an Article 9 financing statement only from the date on which the debtor actually authorizes the filing, and a proposed official comment contrary to this position . My colleague Lissa ... Read full article
On January 1, 2011, Larry files a UCC-1 financing statement against David indicating David's equipment as collateral. At this point, David doesn't even know Larry, has not given him a security interest, and has not authorized this ... Read full article
In many respects, bankruptcy is a one-size-fits-all legal process. Yes, there are ample differences in the law (and a world of difference in practice) between the bankruptcy of a large corporation and a typical consumer. But the Bankruptcy Code itself ... Read full article
On December 7, 2011, President Obama signed the Federal Courts Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act of 2011, H.R. 394, P.L. 112-63. The bill does not amend 28 U.S.C. 1408, the primary venue provision for bankruptcy cases in the U.S. Nonetheless, the ... Read full article
