Financial Services Regulation

This course (taught in real time) is held in seminar form where participation by students is encouraged and expected, and should be of particular interest in view of the frenzy of activity in the recent array of Federal legislative and regulatory initiatives and market developments that are taking place in the Financial Services Industry (“FSI”) which has not been seen since the New Deal years in the 1930s.  Throughout the summer and early fall of 2008, each week saw the demise and/or consolidation of one or more significant players in the banking, securities and insurance industries as Wall Street (as we knew it) died; the process continues.  All of these important events will be discussed in detail from both a legal and financial perspective, including The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (“EESA”), Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (“TARP”) and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) which became law on July 21, 2010.  In addition, the class will discuss the new regulatory and related initiatives developed in Congress and the many new rules, regulations and studies required by Dodd-Frank.  At the conclusion of this course, each student should have a clear understanding of what and why events occurred (which should be valuable in the employment interview process).

The FSI includes the banking, securities, insurance and related industries.  Regulation of the FSI was significantly changed on November 4, 1999 with the enactment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act (“GLB”) and the extensive rules and regulations issued thereunder, which modernized our FSI and abolished most of the outdated restrictions which existed.  We initially will discuss a number of these developments, particularly as they relate to the recent and current changes in the regulation of the FSI since the early summer of 2008.  These will include: the pre 2009 Federal regulatory structure, including Treasury’s March 2008 proposed “Blueprint” for regulatory change; the roles of Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other regulators; government sponsored enterprises and their involvement in the creation of the “toxic” mortgages that played a role in the development of our current financial crisis; the main “players” in the FSI and their regulators; the various mergers, acquisitions and other combinations that occurred; the various legislative and regulatory initiatives to restructure our FSI regulatory system culminating in the negotiation and passage of Dodd-Frank; and other related areas and issues.

Notes: Exam/paper option



Credits: 3

Type: SEM

Does this course satisfy the writing requirement? Yes

Is this course open to LL.M. students? Yes

Partial list of professors who teach or have taught this course:
Mitchell, Clyde Spring 2013, Spring 2012, Spring 2011