Banking and Finance Law Commons^™

Enforcing The Community Reinvestment Act, Jeremy C. Kress, Jeffery Y. Zhang

Law & Economics Working Papers

Nearly fifty years after the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA) required banks to serve low- and moderate-income (LMI) areas, the systematic exclusion of disadvantaged communities from the mainstream financial system persists. This Article identifies a novel explanation for the CRA's limited impact: its enforcement mechanisms are ineffective.The CRA operates through two enforcement channels. Regulators must (1) consider a bank's CRA record when the bank seeks permission to merge or expand, and (2) publish periodic assessments of each bank's CRA performance. Using twenty years of CRA data, we show that neither enforcement mechanism works as intended. Banks strategically increase CRA …

Unlocking The Corporate Governance Potential Of Mutual Fund Investors, Jeffrey Manns

Nevada Law Journal

America’s mutual fund governance has long consisted of a system of money manager dominance and shareholder impotence. While mutual funds pool together unprecedented sums of capital, investors historically have had no meaningful role in governance and have faced a choice of “love it or leave it” when it comes to their investments in mutual funds.

The controversy over mutual fund managers’ advocacy of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles in portfolio companies has reinvigorated interest in repairing the dysfunctional principal-agent relationship between investors and money managers. The management of BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, ignited an ESG voting controversy …

Does Article I Of The Constitution Prohibit The States From Creating Their Own Cryptocurrencies?, Kevin Fontenot

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

The market for cryptocurrency (crypto) has exploded in size since the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was created in 2009. As of September 4, 2024, the value of all existing cryptocurrency was $2.02 trillion. On November 14, 2024, this value reached a high of $3.2 trillion, apparently in response to the election of pro-crypto President Donald Trump. Despite the fact that cryptocurrencies have been at the forefront of many high profile scandals, consumers still flock to them. For example, celebrities including Hailey Welch (colloquially known as “Hawk Tuah girl”), Logan Paul, and Jason Derulo have been criticized for allegedly goading consumers into …

Bankrupt Crypto Organizations, Kara Bruce, Christopher K. Odinet, Andrea Tosato

Faculty Scholarship

This Article provides the first comprehensive analysis of the intersection between decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and American bankruptcy law. DAOs are blockchain-based entities that enable individuals to pursue common goals using decentralized decision-making and automated governance. Since their recent emergence, DAOs have proliferated dramatically—with over 20,000 organizations managing over $20 billion in assets and engaging in activities ranging from investment management to real estate and even attempting to purchase historic copies of the U.S. Constitution. Yet like any other organization, DAOs can fail, creating an urgent need to understand what happens when unstoppable code meets immovable bankruptcy law.

Our investigation …

Recommendations For Developing A Regulatory Sandbox And A Comprehensive Legal Framework For Fintech In Vietnam - Part Ii, Sue M. Altmeyer, Phan Dang Hai

Akron Law Faculty Publications

Fintech, a product of the 4.0 revolution, has experienced rapid growth in Vietnam, attracting significant attention from investors and government agencies. In encouraging innovation, the authors write, the need for a practical legal framework to regulate fintech activities has become a critical issue. The authors believe that this new legal framework should include a regulatory sandbox, which would allow fintech startups to test their products in a controlled environment, helping to mitigate risks, foster creativity, and enhance regulatory oversight. This two-part article discusses challenges in creating and implementing a regulatory sandbox and provides recommendations for overcoming these hurdles. The first …

Sanctioning Negligent Bankers, Kyle D. Logue, Robert Will Thomas, Jeffery Y. Zhang

Articles

Over just one week in 2023, depositor runs at a few U.S. banks threatened to trigger a worldwide banking crisis. Afterwards, the United States suffered three of the biggest bank failures in the nation’s history; in Europe, Credit Suisse became the largest financial institution to fail since the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis. Stunned by this lightning-fast panic, lawmakers, regulators, and academics have called for significant changes to the U.S. financial regulatory framework. Leading among these proposals are calls to improve supervisory oversight of banks, to tighten existing regulations on banks, and to increase deposit insurance limits. But these proposals alone …

Peran Ojk Dalam Pencegahan Fraud Pada Equity Crowdfunding: Studi Perbandingan Dengan Mekanisme Pengawasan Perbankan, Amanda Amelia Rizki, Ina Kurnia Savitri, Irsya Bakhtiar

Technology and Economics Law Journal

This study examines the role of the Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan/OJK) in preventing fraud in the implementation of Equity Crowdfunding (ECF) in Indonesia and compares it with the supervisory mechanisms of the banking sector, which are based on the prudential principle. Using a normative juridical approach and a comparative regulatory study, the research finds that although Financial Services Authority Regulation No. 17 of 2025 concerning the Offering of Securities through Information Technology Based Crowdfunding Services (POJK No. 17 of 2025) has strengthened the regulatory framework for ECF through licensing requirements, off-site and on-site supervision, issuer due diligence obligations, …

Mansion Markets: Re-Evaluating The Treatment Of Customs Unions In Antidumping Cases, Devin Humphreys

Mercer Law Review

Some customs unions look like glorified trade deals, while other customs unions look like nation‑states in the making. Since 1979, U.S. trade law has treated both kinds of customs unions the same, but this state of affairs ignores the variety of ways in which some (though not all) modern customs unions are remarkably economically integrated. Presidents from both parties have treated the European Union as a singular entity in regulating foreign trade with their Section 232 authority, and more recently, the current presidential administration has issued ad valorem tariffs against the European Union as a bloc. But due to a …

The Culture Cure: Behavioral Supervision And The Regulation Of Financial Institutions, David B. Lourie

Mercer Law Review

This Article advances a normative claim: U.S. financial regulators must move beyond primarily adversarial, enforcement-driven models and adopt behavioral supervisory tools—particularly elements of culture assessments—to proactively help guide ethical firm conduct and mitigate systemic risk. Importantly, the proposal here is incremental and resource-efficient. Many recommendations place the onus on firms to assess and demonstrate their culture, while regulators set expectations, review outputs, and selectively verify findings. The framework proceeds in progressive stages—beginning with voluntary, partnership-based initiatives, moving toward light-touch integration within existing examinations, and scaling only where persistent governance weaknesses or systemic risks warrant closer attention. This tiered approach reflects …

Monetary System Upgrade Driven By Financial Technology: Path Exploration And Practical Insights Based On E-Cny, Chen Chen, Hong Chi, Ping Zhang, Yilei Liang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Financial technology (fintech) is a key variable reshaping national financial competitiveness, and promoting the digital upgrade of the monetary system is a core task in building a financially strong nation. As a pivotal component of the monetary system, the electronic Chinese yuan (e-CNY), based on its inherent fintech attributes, serves as a critical practice for driving the monetary system towards a more advanced stage of evolution. Currently, the traditional monetary system faces three major challenges: low efficiency and high risks in cross-border payments, structural attenuation in monetary policy transmission, and a lack of digital safe-haven assets. Starting from the pilot …

Outbound Investment Restrictions And International Law’S Challenge, Harlan Grant Cohen

Seattle University Law Review

The Outbound Investment Rule, restricting U.S. investment in certain Chinese advanced technology sectors, has largely been portrayed as an incremental measure, a modest extension to fill loopholes in the existing investment screening regime. But while perhaps the logical next step in the securitization of the economy, the Outbound Investment Rule actually reflects a momentous shift in the relationship between governments and business, one playing out in the United States and around the world and worth attention. Unlike traditional investment screening, the Outbound Investment Rule operates like a sanctions regime, designed not to protect the U.S. economy, but to hamper the …

Resilient Dispute Resolution Systems For International Energy Conflicts, Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez

Seattle University Law Review

Energy-related conflicts are on the rise, spanning diverse issues such as the impacts of rare mineral mining on local communities, the impacts of sanctions on energy investments due to the Russia-Ukraine war, and the impacts of expanded subsidies on the electric vehicle and solar panel industries. Increasingly, companies, communities, and governments are clashing over the challenges of pursuing disparate and sometimes competing energy policies. This Article argues that dispute resolution mechanisms in the energy investment sector must be fundamentally rethought. Traditional semi-adjudicatory models, which focus on winners and losers, fail to accommodate the complex and multifaceted nature of contemporary energy …

Restricting Data Flows Is A Sign Of Weakness, Nikolas Guggenberger

Seattle University Law Review

There has been a seismic shift in American attitudes toward the free flow of data across borders.  In less than a decade, the United States has transitioned from condemning barriers to digital trade to constructing a digital fortress of its own. It passed legislation requiring TikTok’s parent company to divest its U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban affecting 170 million U.S. users, citing national security concerns about its ties to China and the potential for data surveillance and content manipulation. Upon legal challenge by TikTok on First Amendment grounds, the Supreme Court affirmed the ban’s constitutionality. Recent federal legislation …

Product Nationality And Corporate Identity, Trang (Mae) Nguyen

Seattle University Law Review

Global supply chains have long depended on a deceptively technical device: the attribution of a “nationality” to goods. A trade law principle, rules of origin assign products an “economic passport” that governs how they are treated at the border, including what markets they may enter and which tariff rates apply. In recent years, however, product nationality has taken on a new and far more ambitious role. As U.S. trade policy increasingly intersects with national security and human rights policy, policymakers rely on nationality-based measures to police supply chain linkages, curb geopolitical issues, and discipline firms for their links to forced …

Global Supply Chain Resilience In Emerging Technologies: A Case Study Of Bitcoin Mining, Kishanthi Parella, Carla L. Reyes

Seattle University Law Review

The United States has put into motion bold plans in critical and emerging technologies to bolster its national and economic security.  For example, the federal government created a national bitcoin strategic reserve and a stockpile of other cryptocurrency; while several states have committed to or are considering similar goals.  However, the security of these reserves is dependent on two types of supply chains within the Bitcoin mining industry: analogue supply chains, relating to the physical components needed for Bitcoin mining, and data supply chains, relating to the complex and layered logistical network of actors that create input into the software …

Volume 49 Masthead

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 49 Masthead

A Comparative Study Of Chinese And American Approaches To Shaping International Outer Space Law And Norms, Ariel G. Silverman

Seattle University Law Review

This article explores convergences and divergencies in the United States and PRC’s responses to the stalemate in the United Nations over the future of outer space resource governance. I do so by systematically analyzing these leading space-faring nations’ policy-positions and tactics deployed to shape norms around three substantive areas of outer space resource governance: rights of ownership and scope of utilization of space resources, mechanization of the “benefits sharing” principle, and the rights and responsibilities of the private sector. I theorize that these leading space-faring nations have adopted divergent approaches due to their differing historical relationships with international law and …

Table Of Contents

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Third-Party Funding: Balancing Transparency, National Security, And Access To Justice, Victoria Shannon Sahani

Seattle University Law Review

Many lawmakers who have recently become aware of the multi-billion-dollar global third-party funding industry are raising new national security concerns that further complicate preexisting, longstanding debates about transparency, disclosure, access to justice, and the best way to regulate third-party funding. In response, this Article briefly asserts three main points relating to the question of how best to regulate third-party funding. First, this Article explains the third-party funding industry, including its global regulatory landscape and how it serves three distinct populations: consumers, businesses, and law firms. Second, this Article explains that third-party funding is one tool that can help expand access …

The Field Of International Business Transactions Law, Kathleen Claussen

Seattle University Law Review

This Article studies the evolution of the scholarly subfield referred to as the law of “international business transactions” (IBT). It reviews data on academic articles, courses, textbooks and other signifiers of the growth of this research area. Beginning around 1960, scholars began to use the term “international business transactions” and by the 1980s, several law schools were offering a course by that title. A handful of dedicated textbooks soon followed. These data reflect a gradual increase in research on the topic of IBT, particularly in the United States, but also considerable diversity of subject matters covered by those works. The …