The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released revised FAQs on April 23, 2010 (available on the FDIC website at http://fdic.gov/regulations/laws/faqfbqual.html), which supplement the FAQs it issued on January 7, 2010 regarding its Statement of Policy on Qualifications for Failed Bank Acquisitions (PE Policy Statement).

In a series of 21st Century Money, Banking & Commerce Alerts® and articles published by our attorneys throughout 2007 and 2008, we have traced developments in business structures and regulatory responses impacting investments in, or acquisitions of, healthy and failed banks by private equity and hedge funds.

On December 11, 2009, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding its Final Statement of Policy on Qualifications for Failed Bank Acquisitions (PE Policy Statement).

A key provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank Act") exempts non-accelerated filers from the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ("Sarbanes-Oxley").

In recent remarks, Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson, Jr. has indicated that the Treasury would turn its attention under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act to the market for consumer credit that is securitized outside the banking system.

A number of applications to acquire depository institutions were filed with federal bank regulators last Friday by public, nonbanking companies seeking to satisfy the TARP requirements to participate in the Capital Purchase Program (“CPP”). Insurance companies filed at least four applications.

Following our previous Fried Frank memoranda on the topic of the UK's bank payroll tax (11th December and 21st December 2009), the UK tax authority, HM Revenue & Customs ("HMRC"), has on 12th March 2010 issued a series of further clarifications and limitations on the scope of the tax.

Following a five-year-long investigation, the European Commission (Commission) has fined Samsung, Philips, LG Electronics, Technicolor, Panasonic and Toshiba a total of €1.47 billion for price fixing, market sharing, customer allocation and output restrictions between 1996 and 2006. The fine is the biggest ever imposed in the EU to date.

As part of a wider review of UK partnership taxation law, the UK Government published a consultation document on 20 May of this year.

On December 21, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") amended its rules to implement Section 413(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act").

Eleven airlines have been fined a total of €799m (approx. $1.1bn) as a result of the European Commission’s finding this week that they fixed the price of fuel and security surcharges on cargo flights worldwide.

On January 25, 2012, the NYSE announced that for certain types of corporate governance proposals it would no longer permit broker discretionary voting.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) on July 2, 2009, requested comment on its proposed Statement of Policy on Qualifications for Failed Bank Acquisitions (the “Proposal”).

With its recent decision, the BGH has confirmed that a notarization by a Swiss notary is still deemed to be equivalent to a German notarization and therefore valid

The UK’s competition enforcement body, the Office of Fair Trading, yesterday published guidance for company directors on the level of competition law knowledge expected from them and the steps they should be taking to prevent, detect and stop competition law breaches.

In a recent public address, FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair announced that her agency will soon consider issuing a proposed rule to set recordkeeping requirements for troubled institutions regarding their qualified financial contracts (QFCs), and will seek comment on setting minimum QFC recordkeeping requirements for all FDIC-insured institutions.

On January 7, 2010, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) issued frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding its Final Statement of Policy on Qualifications for Failed Bank Acquisitions (Policy Statement).

In an article entitled “Update the Rules for Private-Equity Stakes” published in the American Banker on Friday, August 29, 2008, Thomas P. Vartanian and Robert H. Ledig suggested that the banking agencies should work together to develop a way to provide a banking charter to investors to allow them to bid for failing banks being marketed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”).

Recently, blind pool bank investment funds have become the latest structure to attract interest among investors looking for investment opportunities in financial institutions.

In recent weeks, the U.S. has imposed economic sanctions on a number of parties related to the Libyan regime that have been determined to be responsible for human rights abuses in Libya.