New York Regulatory Roundtable: Navigating the Current Enforcement Environment

The sheer number and severity of agency formal enforcement actions against financial institutions and their officers and directors has dramatically increased in the post Dodd-Frank era, and a cessation in such activity is not likely to occur in the foreseeable future. Unlike prior agency enforcement waves, this one is complicated by the addition of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, increased activity by state Attorneys General, and aggressive actions by the Department of Justice. In this Roundtable, our panelists will discuss this ever-increasing and complicated enforcement environment, and the challenging legal and practical issues that must be addressed when facing multiple investigations and threats of formal enforcement or civil actions by government agencies.

Among the issues we will discuss are:

- A review of recent regulatory sanctions against financial institutions issued by multiple agencies
- The types of investigations that a financial institution could simultaneously face from multiple agencies and state AGs
- The legal and practical issues presented by multiple investigations being conducted simultaneously
- The prudential regulator's expectations regarding proper corporate governance while the institution or insiders are under investigation
- Pitfalls to avoid when responding to agency investigations and threats of formal enforcement or civil actions.