Cabinet News & Views

In This Issue ...

While March Madness, in the form of the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments, and the Academy Awards left us with the week's "did you see that?" moments, the SEC's proposed climate-related rule remained a top-of-mind topic in the financial services industry. Add to that an important new pronouncement from the FDIC, covered in this week's issue as a "Take Five" commentary item by our Global Litigation colleagues Jason Halper, Sara Bussiere and Timbre Shriver, and you can see why we think there will be continued focus and debate on climate in the weeks and months to come.

Unfortunately, the situation in Ukraine remains dire, and so we are revisiting sanctions and other related developments this week. In addition, lost in the news shuffle a bit was important FDIC guidance on bank mergers. That's certainly worth a read as well.

As always, we welcome your comments and questions. Just write to us here.

Daniel Meade & Michael Sholem
Co-Editors, Cabinet News and Views

FDIC Requests Comment on Proposed Framework for Managing Climate-Related Risk

By Jason M. Halper

Partner | Global Litigation

By Sara Bussiere

Special Counsel | Global Litigation

By Timbre Shriver

Associate | Global Litigation

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation requested comment on draft principles “that would provide a high-level framework for the safe and sound management of exposures to climate-related financial risks.”

By James A. Treanor

Special Counsel | White Collar Defense and Investigations

Increased defense spending and assistance to the Ukrainian government in Kyiv grabbed many of the headlines regarding President Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget. However, funding requests for key functions within the Department of the Treasury highlight the critical role of economic sanctions and anti-money laundering tools for responding to the crisis in Ukraine.

By Howard Wizenfeld

Special Counsel | Intellectual Property

Recently, the offices of various Members of Congress announced that their Members would be meeting to discuss comprehensive federal privacy legislation. This meeting among the aides could represent a sign of growing recognition that an absence of uniform, national privacy protection poses a vacuum with respect to federal regulation directed to personal data.

By Daniel Meade

Partner | Financial Regulation

Last week the FDIC announced it will publish in the Federal Register a Request for Information and Comment (“RFI”) on the regulatory framework regarding mergers involving one or more insured depository institutions (i.e., bank mergers). This is the RFI that resulted in competing statements from the FDIC and CFPB in December and appeared to prompt the resignation of the then-Chair of the FDIC.

By Michael Sholem

Partner | Financial Services

On March 25, the three European supervisory authorities − the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority (collectively the “ESAs”) − published an updated joint statement on the application of Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 on sustainability-related disclosures in the financial services sector (“SFDR”). This statement provides further guidance to firms on SFDR compliance in absence of finalised detailed disclosure requirements under EU secondary legislation (known as Regulatory Technical Standards, or “RTS”).

By Christopher Montgomery

Special Counsel | Fund Finance

Two recent news items got me thinking about public pensions, their continued rise in private equity and their sovereign status. The first news item, already widely covered in the media, is the announcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission of new rules requiring (among other things) enhanced periodic disclosure for fees, expenses and performance (including, possibly, reporting performance with and without the use of fund financing). The second news item is the increasing deployment of public pension money in private equity as a long-term secular trend.