Sky Blog
As reflected in the title of the new memoir by Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath, Bernanke clearly believes that he and other Fed policymakers demonstrated exceptional …
In my recent paper, “Private and Public Controls in the Over-the-Counter Derivatives Market, 1984-2015”, I study how private and public controls operated jointly in OTC derivatives over the period. A main conclusion is that private incentives especially shaped …
A provision of the Dodd-Frank Act popularly known as the “swaps pushout rule” prohibited FDIC-insured banks from entering into certain types of swaps contracts. Congress recently reversed this provision, so that banks can continue trading in these swaps. The reversal …
Group bankruptcies tend to be large (e.g., Global Crossing, Maxwell, MG Rover, Parmalat) and affect a significant number of stakeholders. Business groups constitute a common way for ultimate owners to exercise control over a large number of companies while containing …
Thank you to the organizers and BIS for the opportunity to address this research conference on “Global Financial Interconnectedness.” The OFR was established to identify, monitor, and assess threats to financial stability, so improving our collective understanding of the interconnectedness …
It is confounding that futures customers currently receive a lower level of protection than cleared swaps customers under US law. This legal phenomenon has occurred because the law in the US derivatives markets developed in a piecemeal fashion over several …
Incomplete contracting theories build on the idea that it is either not feasible or too costly for contracting parties such as borrowers and lenders to write contracts that perfectly anticipate all future scenarios. As a result, transacting parties are left …
The European insurance sector has approximately 6.8 trillion euros of assets under management. It is the largest European institutional investor, a fundamental element of financial stability and provides support for the global economy. Additionally, the European insurance sector is a …
The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have announced (in Notice 2015-59) that they are studying issues related to the qualification of certain corporate distributions as tax-free under Section 355 of the Internal Revenue Code in situations involving …
The high-risk business model of large financial conglomerates (frequently called “universal banks”) was an important cause of the financial crisis. Universal banks rely on cheap funding from deposits and shadow banking liabilities to finance their speculative activities in the capital …
What unites Atlantic City, the Chicago Public School System, and Puerto Rico’s electric company? They are financially distressed government entities facing various legal and political barriers to using the United States bankruptcy system. Negotiations over those barriers are, in part, …
The release last week of public summaries of the resolution plans submitted by the 12 largest financial institutions operating in the US reveal more insight into the institutions’ resolution strategies than ever before, including the strategy for each of their …
On June 23, 2015, the District Court (the “Court”) for the Southern District of New York (the “SDNY”) held that an out-of-court restructuring that involved the elimination of a parent guarantee and a significant asset transfer …
The Federal Open Market Committee, which controls the supply of money in the United States, may be the country’s most important agency. The chair of the committee is often dubbed the second most powerful person in Washington, only deferring to …
On July 17, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “FRB”) released a notice of proposed rulemaking (the “NPR” and the rules set forth therein, the “Proposed Rule”) that would modify …
To the friends of the CLS Blue Sky Blog: The ABA journal is conducting a poll to identify the top 100 legal blogs. We would be honored by your nomination. In addition to reprinting commentary from practitioners and regulators on …
The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (“BAPCPA”),[1] enacted in 2005, has been the subject of extensive commentary over the effects that the Act might have on the chapter 11 landscape and the debtor’s reorganization chances.
In my …
Sovereign debt markets have been on a rough ride recently. On the heels of Argentina’s 2014 default, a turbulent debt situation in Greece has threatened the integrity of the Eurozone. An ongoing debt crisis in Ukraine has stoked economic anxiety …
On May 21, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed a decision of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, which had approved the structured dismissal of the chapter 11 cases of …