Sky Blog
The syndicated loan market is one of the largest sources of financing for U.S. firms. This market has experienced tremendous growth over the past 20 years. In fact, some recent estimates suggest that U.S. firms obtain over $1 trillion in …
The election of Donald J. Trump as president and continued Republican control of both the US Senate and House of Representatives may provide the new president the opportunity to immediately remake the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) after he takes …
The Silicon Valley ecosystem has changed profoundly since the dizzying heights of the dot-com era. Consider two of that era’s iconic companies: Yahoo! and eBay. At the time of their IPOs, both of these companies were mere infants by today’s …
On December 2, 2016, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry announced formally that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) will move forward with chartering financial technology (FinTech) companies that offer bank products and services as special …
In September 2009, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis suddenly announced his intention to retire by the end of the year. The company’s board was taken by surprise as it scrambled to find a successor and was further embarrassed as …
President-Elect Trump’s transition website promises to “dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act and replace it with new policies to encourage economic growth and job creation.” For those who wonder what that might mean in more detail, we believe that Rep. Jeb Hensarling’s …
Going back as far as the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities and Exchange Commission has taken action to improve the readability and understandability of financial data. In 1969, a report commissioned by the SEC, the Wheat Report, indicated that …
The Delaware Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings LLC, 125 A.3d 304 (Del. 2015) articulated a new defendant-friendly rule for post-closing damages actions for breaches of fiduciary duties. The Delaware Supreme Court held that where a …
There are two established explanations for bank runs: coordination problems among depositors and information asymmetries between bank managers and depositors. In a new paper, “Information Gaps and Shadow Banking,” forthcoming in the Virginia Law Review and available here, I …
The two most influential proxy advisory firms–Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass, Lewis & Co. (Glass Lewis)–recently released their updated proxy voting guidelines for 2017. The key changes to the ISS and Glass Lewis policies are described below along with …
We believe the recent election will have less impact on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary duty rule than some in the media are currently speculating.[1] While some provisions may be modified by a new Administration, we believe the …
With Congress and the Presidency soon in Republican control, look for the Financial CHOICE Act (or perhaps an enhanced version) to be re-introduced in the next Congress. The bill, sponsored by Jeb Hensarling, Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, …
For a long time, the academic literature has largely supported the view that staggered boards — which require challengers to win at least two election cycles to gain a board majority — entrench directors and managers to the detriment of …
It’s great to be here today [November 30] with so many people involved in the fight against international corruption. The diversity of this crowd – which includes folks from the public and private sector, from the United States and abroad, …