Client Alerts & Publications

On June 14, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System issued a final rule that establishes credit limits for single counterparties of US bank holding companies and foreign banking organizations with $250 billion or more in assets, and US intermediate holding companies of covered FBOs with $50 billion or more of consolidated assets.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision reversing a lower court’s order that designated the vote of a secured bank creditor that had purchased claims from a subset of unsecured creditors for the admitted purpose of blocking confirmation of the debtor’s plan of reorganization.

In a case of first impression, the Illinois Appellate Court has held that a condominium association does not have to first sue the prior owner of a condominium for unpaid assessments before it can seek unpaid assessments from the new owner that purchased the condominium at a foreclosure sale.

A recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has created a circuit split in how the federal circuit courts have interpreted the statute of limitations as it applies to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

On May 22, the House passed Senate bill S. 2155, which would amend certain Dodd-Frank provisions and, primarily for smaller banks and credit unions, provide additional regulatory relief. President Trump is expected to sign the bill, so that it will take effect as law.  

This article discuss two recent decisions that have provided some insight into what happens when a debtor files a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition as a means of redeeming sold real estate taxes.

On May 14, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued two documents entitled “Criteria for Identifying Simple, Transparent and Comparable Short-Term Securitisations” and “Capital Treatment for Simple, Transparent and Comparable Short-Term Securitisations.” 

Under 1991 US guidance, if a non-US partner sold its interest in a US partnership, the selling partner would look through to the business of the partnership and would be required to file a US tax return and pay US tax if the partnership would have had income effectively connected to a US trade or business on a deemed sale of its assets. But that guidance was reversed in a tax court case. Then the US position was reversed again in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Recently in Hackler v. Arianna Holding Co., the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey held that a real estate tax foreclosure sale can be set aside as a preferential transfer under Section 547 of the Bankruptcy Code.

Today, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued two documents entitled “Criteria for Identifying Simple, Transparent and Comparable Short-Term Securitisations” and “Capital Treatment for Simple, Transparent and Comparable Short-Term Securitisations.”

For non-US individuals and corporations that invest in real estate within the US, the rules that subject their gains to US federal income tax generally are found under Section 897. The Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act rules have often been attacked as a disincentive for overseas investors to enter the US real estate market.

On February 9, President Trump signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 which retroactively extended some temporary tax breaks and includes some additional provisions which were left out of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Other than several one year extensions of credits and deductions, the Act included the energy-related provisions discussed in this Client Alert. 

On April 18, the Securities and Exchange Commission released a new interpretation addressing investment advisers’ fiduciary duties to their clients. The SEC’s proposed interpretive guidance reaffirms and clarifies duties owed by investment advisers to their clients under Section 206 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

On April 18, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new Regulation Best Interest under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that would establish a federal standard of conduct for broker-dealers and natural persons who are associated persons of a broker-dealer when making a recommendation of any securities transaction or investment strategy involving securities to a retail customer. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently proposed new and amended rules and forms under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require registered investment advisers and broker-dealers to provide a brief relationship summary to retail investors regarding their offered services, the standard of conduct and fees associated with the services.

The 2018 update of Chapman's book, "The Regulation of Marketplace Lending: A Summary of the Principal Issues," discusses the latest “true lender” and Madden developments, CFPB changes and how they may affect regulatory priorities and enforcement, the roles of banks in marketplace lending, blockchain uses, and servicing and collection issues.

Today, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted 4 to 1 to propose highly anticipated new and amended rules and guidance relating to registered investment advisers’ and broker-dealers’ conduct and interactions with retail customers.

On April 9, 2018, Judge Martin Glenn of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, in In re Avanti Communications Group PLC, held that non-consensual third-party releases included in a U.K. scheme of arrangement were enforceable under chapter 15 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations recently published a Risk Alert that highlights frequently-identified investment adviser fee and expense compliance issues from exams of over 1,500 investment adviser examinations during the past two years.

Chapman’s "Defaulted Securities: The Guide for Trustees and Bondholders" advances understanding and consideration of issues related to trustees and bondholders in both corporate and municipal financings.

This article describes the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on securitization transactions. The article addresses in detail the new limitation on the deduction for business interest expense as well as the requirement that the transferee of an equity interest in a partnership engaged in a US trade or business withhold 10% of the amount realized unless the transferor certifies that it is a US person. 

The question of what happens when a debtor files a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition as a means of redeeming sold real estate taxes is being addressed throughout the country with more regularity. Recently, bankruptcy courts in Illinois and Georgia have provided some insight into how this question should be answered.