Structured Finance Spectrum | January 2020

ALSTON & BIRD ANNOTATIONS Alston & Bird recently launched a London office focused on finance and payments systems. The new office was founded by Finance partners Andrew Petersen and James Spencer, along with Payments partners James Ashe-Taylor and Rich Willis. … READ MORE CONSUMER FINANCE – Will There Be a Regulatory Fix for “ValidWhen Made”Doctrine? A SimpleYes or NoWould Do Since the Second Circuit’s 2015 ruling in Madden v. Midland Funding LLC , we’ve all been just a tad uncertain about what the future holds for the “valid when made” doctrine. To recap, Madden held that an interest rate that was attached to a transferred debt from a bank to a nonbank could be found to violate state usury laws if the rate exceeded the state’s threshold under its usury laws. … READ ARTICLE POLITICS AND THE MARKET – Supreme Court to Bang the Gavel on the CFPB In October, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to a case challenging the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a regulatory agency established under Dodd–Frank … READ ARTICLE LIBOR – LIBOR Transition: Report fromAcross the Pond For the blissfully unaware, the end of LIBOR may still seem a long way off given its anticipated discontinuation at the end of 2021, but there is still so much to address between now and then. … READ ARTICLE REGULATORY – OCC Releases Deli- cious Final Rule on OREO Properties The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) recently issued a final rule, effective December 1, 2019, to amend regulations regarding other real estate owned … READ ARTICLE MARKETS – Rocky Road Ahead for Leveraged Loans? Signs of Stress in the Market The 2010s will be known for at least a few good things—the Pizza Rat, Finance- bro uniforms, Game of Thrones , and the doubling of the U.S. leveraged loan market to a fully matured $1.2 trillion market. Fueled by a combination of low interest rates and a robust economy, the growth of leveraged loans has helped produce strong returns for its investor base … READ ARTICLE BANKRUPTCY BEAT – Doing the Safe Harbor Cha-Cha: One Step Forward, One Step Back The year 2019 was not a big one for seminal Bankruptcy Code “safe harbor” cases, but if the safe harbors are your thing (they’re certainly ours), there were a couple of cases worth noting. … READ ARTICLE JANUARY 2020