Sky Blog
Over recent decades, the massive globalization of finance has led many observers to expect widespread harmonization of nations’ financial regulations. Yet, while there has been a remarkable degree of harmonization in some areas, at least at the regional level, considerable …
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is the U.S. agency responsible for insuring all bank deposits and facilitating all bank resolutions. Yet, as only one of three bank regulators, the agency relies on the Federal Reserve (Fed) and Office of …
Most financing agreements define “Events of Default” as being triggered not only by serious defaults, such as a borrower’s failure to repay its debt, but also by relatively minor or technical “secondary” defaults not involving debt repayment. Typical examples of …
On February 25, 2025, the Division of Enforcement (Enforcement Division) of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released an Enforcement Advisory on Self-Reporting, Cooperation, and Remediation (Advisory). The Advisory is the Enforcement Division’s “sole policy on self-reporting, cooperation, and …
Less than two years after announcing a more aggressive approach to enforcement, the CFTC Division of Enforcement has issued a new policy on self-reporting and cooperation credit that replaces all previous Division policies on enforcement matters, stressing a more balanced …
In late November 2024, the Bank of England published the results of its first system-wide exploratory scenario (SWES) exercise – a year-long effort to model how various financial entities, including non-bank financial intermediaries (NBFIs) and banks, would respond to a …
In our new paper, we offer a resolution to a longstanding puzzle in contract theory: Why do practitioners in several categories of high-stakes corporate transactions (such as M&A and financings) routinely fix price terms early, while leaving non-price terms …
Large language models (LLMs) are capturing headlines and users as AI researchers push the limits of their capabilities. Those of us who work on understanding and analyzing corporations, whether as practitioners or researchers, are presented with two practical questions: What …
With a new administration and Congress each expressing interest in pursuing a new regulatory framework for crypto, the prospects for federal stablecoin legislation are growing. On February 4, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) introduced the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for …
Share pledging—a financial strategy where corporate executives use their stock holdings as collateral for personal loans—has long been controversial. While it allows executives to obtain liquidity without selling shares, it also introduces risks, such as margin calls that can trigger …
There’s a growing buzz around private credit that’s almost impossible to ignore. In a recent paper, I discuss the background, key participants, distinctive features, and potential concerns associated with this asset class and explore the reasons for its rising …
Dogecoin’s rise to over $1 billion in daily trading volume, much like the dramatic 30 percent spike in Trump Media & Technology Group’s shares following the assassination attempt on now-President Donald Trump, exemplifies the volatile nature of memecoins. These …
In a forthcoming book chapter, we analyze the regulatory challenges facing venture capital (VC) firms as they navigate engagement with decentralized cryptocurrency markets, particularly through decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).[1] These challenges have grown urgent, as the crypto industry emerges …
The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed a recent district court order that preliminarily enjoined enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). While a separate district court ruling staying the effectiveness of the CTA’s beneficial ownership interest reporting rule (Reporting Rule) …
On January 13, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued an opinion requiring the SEC to provide a more complete explanation for its refusal to engage in formal notice-and-comment rulemaking regarding the application of securities laws to …
New bank formation in the United States is at an all-time low, and Americans increasingly rely on non-bank financial technology companies (fintechs) to satisfy their financial services needs. Fintechs that do not operate through banks mostly operate outside the direct …
For better or worse, over the course of my career, I have had the opportunity to participate in the response to three financial crises – the thrift and banking crisis of the 1980s and early 1990s as a member of …
On October 16, 2024, the Republic of El Salvador (“El Salvador”) announced the financial close of a $1 billion debt-for-nature (“DFN”) swap, which was both the world’s largest conservation-focused operation of this kind to date and the world’s largest DFN …
On December 31, 2024, two separate appellate courts issued notable decisions addressing so-called “uptier” transactions. In a typical uptier transaction, a majority of lenders under a credit agreement, in connection with amending the credit agreement and providing additional financing, are …