Financial Institutions National Recognition

The most successful financial services businesses are navigating a shifting regulatory landscape, leveraging technology, and adapting to changing consumer preferences to achieve growth and improve profitability. A deep understanding of the business of banking and the regulatory landscape for financial services, relationships with federal and state regulatory authorities, and connections across the industry make the attorneys at Kilpatrick trusted advisors to the financial services industry. Kilpatrick has built a national reputation for delivering innovative legal solutions to financial institutions in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, regulatory compliance, corporate governance, and executive compensation.

Reach

Maximizing Value

Our team leverages its depth of experience to help clients build value and prevent and resolve legal issues in an efficient and economical fashion. We have counseled hundreds of clients, including:

Financial institutions and underwriters in public offerings and private placements of equity and debt securities
Financial institutions in mergers and acquisitions, branch transactions, and loan portfolio purchases and sales
Public companies in connection with their periodic reports and proxy statements, stock exchange listing requirements, corporate governance, and shareholder matters
Banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, and other financial service providers on a wide array of consumer compliance matters
Management teams and investor groups in forming startup (de novo) banks
Private investors, including private equity funds, hedge funds, and international investors in developing appropriate structures for investing in and acquiring financial institutions
Mutual institutions in their conversion to stock form and creation of mutual holding company structures
Executives, compensation committees, and boards of directors in devising compensation programs and incentive plans and administering tax-qualified and nonqualified benefit plans

Approach

Institutional Knowledge

Kilpatrick attorneys understand the dynamics of the regulatory landscape and draw from more than four decades of experience, offering extensive transactional and counseling services to a wide range of financial services clients. Members of our team have held positions with regulatory agencies, such as the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Related Industries

Experience

Served as counsel to Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc., the parent company of Sandy Spring Bank, in its $489 million acquisition of WashingtonFirst Bank Shares, Inc. Counseled the board of directors, drafted and negotiated the terms of the merger agreement, prepared shareholder disclosure materials and other SEC filings, and prepared all regulatory filings.

Represented a bank holding company in the sale of a portfolio of refinanced student loans originated through its online lending platform.

Represented client in a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Assisted client in responding to the CID and successfully resolving the matter with the CFPB.

Sent response for a federal savings bank, addressing a notice of violation and notice of intent to seek civil money penalty by the Mortgagee Review Board of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for violations arising from the bank’s HUD/FHA loan origination activities.

Advised a financial services provider in conducting a comprehensive review of its Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the FCRA and Regulation V requirements. The review covered all aspects of compliance, including applicable rules, policies, and procedures; operations; risk assessment; issues management; governance; and training.