On March 21, 2019, in Whitaker v. Wedbush Securities, an Illinois appellate court for the first time addressed the liability of a futures commission merchant (FCM) or broker-dealer (BD) under Section 4A-105 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). By way of background, a customer of an FCM dually registered as a BD ostensibly requested a … Continue Reading
On Dec. 2, 2016, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published a preliminary proposal to create a national bank charter for financial technology companies (fintech). The OCC’s rationale in support of the proposal was that such a charter could promote the safety and soundness of fintech institutions, bring greater legal and regulatory … Continue Reading
Michele Stocker, Greenberg Traurig co-chair of the Consumer Financial Services Litigation Practice, was recently quoted by the Florida Record regarding the ruling made in the case of Bartram v. U.S. Bank. She stated that “the Florida Supreme Court’s decision finally brings some clarity to the issue and will allow judges who have been reluctant to … Continue Reading
On Aug. 12, 2016, the World Economic Forum in Davos issued a report that predicts that distributive ledger systems, or blockchains, could enable banks to offer cheaper, faster and more secure services, without using bitcoin or other virtual currencies for transactions, according to the New York Times. Distributed ledger technology, or blockchain, is a system … Continue Reading
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) recently released new guidance on the process it uses when considering enforcement actions against banking institutions and individuals for potential non-compliance with Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) compliance program requirements and anti-money laundering (“AML”) rules. At the same time, the OCC also issued a revised policy for … Continue Reading
When foreign banks doing business in the U.S. calculate gain or loss from equity swaps, they would do well to pay attention to common law doctrines of beneficial ownership. This is the case even though these doctrines have recently lost much of their relevance for withholding tax purposes. In a typical equity swap, one party (in … Continue Reading
