Expert Analysis

• FDIC Standards Body Could Ease Bank Vendor Due Diligence

  

  The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s recently proposed standards body for bank vendors could streamline due diligence and onboarding, but banks and their third-party service providers alike should still monitor open questions around oversight, certification costs and governance, say attorneys at Clark Hill.

• AI Meeting Recaps Pose New Discovery And Privilege Risks

  

  The New York City Bar Association’s recent ethics opinion, cautioning attorneys not to record nonclient conversations with artificial intelligence tools, reflects an emerging view that AI meeting recaps are now a distinct business record category, meaning counsel should set meeting-level controls and apply framework-level updates, says William Wright at Faegre Drinker.

• What Comes Next For Digital Asset Regs After Clarity Act Flop

  

  After the U.S. Senate recently blocked the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, agency rulemaking could still offer a near-term remedy, and companies meanwhile should monitor the existing framework assembled from enforcement precedent and case law in the absence of a purpose-built statute, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

• How Restitution Became Del. Chancery Court's Middle Ground

  

  Though monetary relief is the Delaware Court of Chancery's favored form of compensating shareholders injured by a breached transaction, Ramadurgam v. Destiny XYZ illustrates how restitution, rather than rescission, can also be a viable option for squeezed-out shareholders to present to the court, says Ashwini Jayaratnam at DarrowEverett.

• Negotiating The Scope Of The Stablecoin Customer ID Rule

  

  Though comments on bank regulators’ proposed rule for stablecoin issuers under the Genius Act generally agree that oversight would help prevent illicit activity, agencies must reconcile disagreement over whether to extend customer identification requirements from issuers' primary-market relationships to secondary-markets activity, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

• Series

  Playing Bid Whist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  As a child, I viewed bid whist as a family tradition and a source of friendly card game competition, but as a lawyer, I see it as a tool that has helped me cultivate skills like communication, teamwork, risk assessment and composure, says Keyonn Pope at Riley Safer.

• AML Takes Center Stage In Financial Crime Enforcement

  

  Financial Crimes Enforcement Network actions, including its recent anti-money-laundering penalty against UBS, signal that companies should align sanctions and anti-corruption controls with documented risk assessments, quickly escalate and investigate red flags, and test remediation as enforcement intensifies, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

• Opinion

  The Time Is Right To Simplify Overlapping Broker-Dealer Regs

  

  While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has made an important start to simplifying its rules, legislators should follow and expand on the commission's example by reexamining and removing the unnecessary overlap between SEC, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and state broker-dealer regulations, says Howard Spindel at Integrated Solutions.

• Opinion

  Calif. Bill Goes Too Far In Trying To Regulate Attorney AI Use

  

  California’s first-in-the-nation act regulating how attorneys and arbitrators use generative artificial intelligence will likely soon become law, but read broadly, the provisions may dissuade lawyers from employing AI at all, thereby depriving them of key work tools, says Joshua Wurtzel at Schlam Stone.

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  Fintech Regulator Outlook: 5 Lessons From Minnesota

  

  Minnesota's recent cryptocurrency kiosk ban and virtual currency custody rules hold several broad compliance lessons: Digital asset companies must map regulated activities, strengthen third-party oversight and engage regulators early to innovate responsibly, says Deputy Commissioner of Financial Institutions Mike Crow at the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

• A Look At Litigation Risks From Financing The AI Buildout

  

  Artificial intelligence infrastructure financing can create gaps between accounting presentation and project-level economic exposure, and those gaps may affect management communications and how accounting experts can reconstruct the financial record when those communications become the subject of a securities dispute, says Erik Johannesson at Brattle Group.

• For Faster FDIC Review, Banks Must Front-Load Prep

  

  Banks seeking to benefit from the efficiency promised by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s new two-phase review of deposit insurance applications must prioritize filing comprehensive submissions or risk the fate of applicants recently rejected by the Comptroller of the Currency, say attorneys at Skadden.

• How Prediction Markets Could Be Used In Securities Litigation

  

  Assuming there is enough liquidity, and insider trading concerns are properly addressed, prediction market prices could provide a valuable assessment of market consensus that adjusts faster than existing analysts' forecasts, which could be useful evidence to support securities class action claims, say analysts at Compass Lexecon.

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  Law School's Missed Lessons: Cultivating Good Judgment

  

  Law schools generally overlook the role that solid judgment skills play in real-world practice, but attorneys can bridge the gap by strengthening their abilities to assess a case’s strengths and weaknesses, develop and execute effective strategies, and provide clear recommendations to clients, says Manny Caixeiro at Venable.

• DOJ Letter Rescission Portends Proxy Firm Antitrust Risk

  

  The U.S. Justice Department's recent withdrawal of its 1987 business review letter issued to Institutional Shareholder Services, which shielded certain proxy advisory activities from anticompetitive enforcement, likely foreshadows renewed antitrust scrutiny of proxy advisory firms, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.