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Full-Text Articles in Law

A Better Madden Fix: Holistic Reform, Not Band-Aids, To Modernize Banking Law, Matthew J. Razzano Jul 2020

A Better Madden Fix: Holistic Reform, Not Band-Aids, To Modernize Banking Law, Matthew J. Razzano

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat

Historically, state usury laws prohibited lending above certain interest rates, but in 1978 the Supreme Court interpreted the National Bank Act (NBA) to allow chartered banks to issue loans at rates based on where they were headquartered rather than where the loan originated. States like South Dakota virtually eliminated interest rate ceilings to attract business, incentivizing national banks to base credit operations there and avoid local usury laws. In 2015, however, the Second Circuit decided Madden v. Midland Funding, LLC and reversed long-standing banking practices, ruling that non-chartered financial institutions were not covered by the NBA and were therefore subject …


Shock Therapy, Social Engineering, And Financial Discipline: What Does An Increasingly Financialized World Mean For Democratic Participation?, Layan Charara May 2018

Shock Therapy, Social Engineering, And Financial Discipline: What Does An Increasingly Financialized World Mean For Democratic Participation?, Layan Charara

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

Over the last several decades, the Bretton Woods Institutions have come to be drivers of policy in the realms of economic liberalization and development, exceeding their original mandates of fostering monetary cooperation and facilitating post-war reconstruction. The structural adjustment programs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have engendered mixed results–delivering some countries from financial crises, while inciting riots and compounding state failure in others. Such varied experiences suggest there is some disconnect between the conditions to lending promulgated by these institutions and the realities on the ground. This Note will trace the evolution of high conditionality lending …


The Systematic Risk Of Private Funds After The Dodd-Frank Act, Wulf A. Kaal Sep 2015

The Systematic Risk Of Private Funds After The Dodd-Frank Act, Wulf A. Kaal

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) was created under the Dodd-Frank Act with the primary mandate of guarding against systemic risk and correcting perceived regulatory weaknesses that may have contributed to the financial crisis of 2008-2009. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) collects data pertaining to private fund advisers in order to facilitate FSOC’s assessment of non-bank financial institutions’ potential systemic risks. Evidence that the SEC’s data collection encounters accuracy and consistency problems might hamper FSOC’s ability to evaluate the systemic risk of private fund advisers. The author shows that while the SEC’s data plays a crucial role in all …


The Basel Iii Liquidity Coverage Ratio And Financial Stability, Andrew W. Hartlage Dec 2012

The Basel Iii Liquidity Coverage Ratio And Financial Stability, Andrew W. Hartlage

Michigan Law Review

Banks and other financial institutions may increase the amount of credit available in the financial system by borrowing for short terms and lending for long terms. Though this "maturity transformation" is a useful and productive function of banks, it gives rise to the possibility that even prudently managed banks could fail due to a lack of liquid assets. The financial crisis of 2007-2008 revealed the extent to which the U.S. financial system is exposed to the risk of a system-wide failure from insufficient liquidity. Financial regulators from economies around the world have responded to the crisis by proposing new, internationally …


The Volcker Rule's Hedging Exemption, Spencer A. Winters Sep 2012

The Volcker Rule's Hedging Exemption, Spencer A. Winters

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

The comment period for the proposed regulations to be promulgated under the Volcker Rule expired on February 13, 2012. The rulemakers received over 16,000 comments during that period, in what one commentator described as a "fecal storm." Though that description is hopefully an exaggeration, it is safe to say that the Rule's implementation has been contentious. The Volcker Rule, named for former chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker, is a component of the Dodd-Frank Act, which Congress passed in response to the recent financial crisis. The Rule's statutory provision charges the nation's financial regulators with issuing a body of …


Mezzanine Finance And Preferred Equity Investment In Commercial Real Estate: Security, Collateral & Control, Jon S. Robins, David E. Wallace, Mark Franke Jan 2012

Mezzanine Finance And Preferred Equity Investment In Commercial Real Estate: Security, Collateral & Control, Jon S. Robins, David E. Wallace, Mark Franke

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

This article will review both the genesis and the rise in popularity of preferred equity and mezzanine debt, examine their legal and structural differences, and provide some exposition as to how these financing techniques work from security, collateral and control standpoints. We do not undertake in this article to address the differences in tax and accounting treatment between mezzanine loans and preferred equity investments both for either the mezzanine lender or preferred equity investor on the one hand, or for the mezzanine borrower or the common equity investor, on the other hand. In deciding upon which structure to use, transaction …


The Meaning Of The Market Myth, Benjamin Means Jan 2012

The Meaning Of The Market Myth, Benjamin Means

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

This Book Review contends that the perfectly rational market may be a myth, not just in the sense of a false or over-simplified account of reality, but also in the deeper, anthropological sense of cultural explanation. Part I describes how rational-market theories were developed by financial economists and applied to Wall Street, sometimes without adequate appreciation for the difference between simplified economic models and real-world behavior. Part II contends that if the rational-market theory has met with acceptance that outstrips its empirical support, the favorable reception may be explained in part by the theory’s congruence with broader normative views about …


Addressing Gaps In The Dodd-Frank Act: Directors' Risk Management Oversight Obligations, Kristin N. Johnson Sep 2011

Addressing Gaps In The Dodd-Frank Act: Directors' Risk Management Oversight Obligations, Kristin N. Johnson

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In the years leading to the recent financial crisis, finance theorists introduced innovative methods, including quantitative financial models and derivative instruments, to measure and mitigate risk exposure. During the financial crisis, financial institutions facing insolvency revealed pervasive misunderstandings, misapplications, and mistaken assumptions regarding these complex risk management methods. As losses in financial markets escalated and caused liquidity and solvency crises, commentators sharply criticized directors and executives at large financial institutions for their risk management decisions. By adopting the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Congress directly and indirectly addresses certain risk management oversight concerns at large, complex financial …


Community Development Banking Strategy For Revitalizing Our Communities, Rochelle E. Lento May 1994

Community Development Banking Strategy For Revitalizing Our Communities, Rochelle E. Lento

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

CDCUs and CDLFs may outnumber CDBs, but their scope of lending activity pales in comparison. Despite CDBs' relatively small number, their impact on their respective communities warrants an in-depth discussion of their structures and formulas for success. This Article will provide an overview of the CDBs in the United States. Part I first sets forth the legal structure and purpose of CDBs, and then reviews the history and current status of mature CDBs and emerging CDBs. Part II considers community development credit unions, after which Part III gives community development loan funds similar treatment. Finally, Part IV analyzes the potential …


Debt, Development, And Human Rights: Lessons From South Africa, Daniel D. Bradlow Jan 1991

Debt, Development, And Human Rights: Lessons From South Africa, Daniel D. Bradlow

Michigan Journal of International Law

This paper, through a case study of financial sanctions against South Africa, demonstrates that it is possible to design a development-oriented financial sanctions strategy against any country that violates the human rights of its citizens and in which government regulations, including exchange controls, result in foreign-owned financial assets being trapped in the target country. This strategy will both deprive the perpetrators of the human rights violations of new funds and will help redirect the blocked funds into activities that are designed to promote the political and socioeconomic development of the victims of the human rights abuses. The means for identifying …


Note, Throwing A Monkey Wrench Into The Wheels Of International Finance: Wells Fargo Asia Ltd. V. Citibank, N.A., Edmund W. Sim Jan 1990

Note, Throwing A Monkey Wrench Into The Wheels Of International Finance: Wells Fargo Asia Ltd. V. Citibank, N.A., Edmund W. Sim

Michigan Journal of International Law

This note attempts to illustrate concisely the issues and potential ramifications of Wells Fargo. After describing the complex factual and procedural histories of the case, the note briefly surveys the various approaches to the Act of State doctrine and suggests that the Court should consider Act of State issues in Wells Fargo. Next, it examines the lower courts' analyses of the case and what effects their rulings would have if the Court were to adopt them. Due to the resulting legal confusion that the lower courts' decisions would wreak on the Eurodollar community, Wells Fargo should not remain …


The Right To Financial Privacy Act Of 1978-The Congressional Response To United States V. Miller: A Procedural Right To Challenge Government Access To Financial Records, Nancy M. Kirschner Oct 1979

The Right To Financial Privacy Act Of 1978-The Congressional Response To United States V. Miller: A Procedural Right To Challenge Government Access To Financial Records, Nancy M. Kirschner

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article will review the factors leading to the Miller decision and the legislative response to that decision. Part I will examine the bank customer's expectation of privacy and the way Miller affects this expectation. Part II will discuss the congressional response to Miller and the competing interests which led to the Right to Financial Privacy Act. The Act itself will be discussed in detail in Part III. Part IV will evaluate the Act, and offer recommendations for reform. The article concludes that the Act, by adopting a purely procedural approach, fails to provide adequate protection to bank customers.


Bank Securities Activities And The Need To Separate Trust Departments From Large Commercial Banks, Thomas J. Schoenbaum Oct 1976

Bank Securities Activities And The Need To Separate Trust Departments From Large Commercial Banks, Thomas J. Schoenbaum

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article (1) analyzes the traditional Glass-Steagall Act restrictions on banks and the leading case of Investment Company Institute v. Camp, where the Supreme Court held that the offering by commercial banks of commingled agency accounts violated the Glass-Steagall Act prohibition against underwriting securities, (2) considers the. developments since that decision, and (3) offers suggestions on an approach to devising solutions to the policy questions involved.