As you may remember, there were a lot of changes to the U.S. tax law at the end of December 2017.  Those changes were enacted by the so-called Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. One of those changes was the addition of Internal Revenue Code section 451(b). This rule requires accrual method taxpayers who file “applicable financial statements” to recognize certain items of income for federal income tax purposes no later than when they recognize such…

In July, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) proposed a change (discussed here) to certain provisions of its securitization safe harbor rule (the “Rule”), which relates to the treatment of financial assets transferred in connection with a securitization or participation transaction.  The proposed change would eliminate the requirement under the Rule that disclosure documents for bank-sponsored securitizations not otherwise subject to Regulation AB’s disclosure requirements (i.e. non-public transactions) comply with Regulation AB.   This…

California law restricts the types of instruments in which California cities, districts and other local agencies can invest public funds. Previously, among other requirements, Section 53601 of the California Government Code provided that these municipalities could only invest public funds in asset-backed securities and mortgage-backed securities when (i) issued by an issuer rated at least “A” or its equivalent for its debts by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (an “NRSRO”) and (ii) such securities…

The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD Act) requires the CFPB to prepare a biennial report to Congress regarding the consumer credit card market. On August 27th, the CFPB issued its fourth such report (previous reports were issued in 2013, 2015 and 2017) which describes the CFPB’s findings regarding, among other things, the cost and availability of credit, credit card performance trends and innovations in the credit card marketplace. As you might expect,…

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced an increase in the filing fees to be paid by public companies and other issuers during the SEC’s 2020 fiscal year. Effective October 1, 2019, the filing fee rate will increase approximately 7.1 percent from the current rate of $121.20 per million dollars to $129.80 per million dollars for, among other things: (1) the registration of securities under the Securities Act of 1933; and (2) the…

The US federal banking regulators have finalized revisions to the proprietary trading and compliance program provisions of the Volcker Rule.  What do the revisions mean for structured finance products?…

The Wall Street Journal recently quoted Mayer Brown Partner Matthew F. Kluchenek regarding a federal judge’s demand that the new chairman and two commissioners of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) testify in response to a motion for contempt and sanctions. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Judge John Robert Blakey ordered CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert to testify about agency statements regarding a $16 million consent order (“Consent Order”)[1] with Kraft…