H. Rodgin Cohen Joins List of Legal Seminar Speakers

H. Rodgin Cohen, managing partner of Sullivan & Cromwell, has agreed to speak at NOLHGA's 2010 Legal Seminar in July. Cohen will discuss what the current regulatory reform legislation means for a financial services industry in the midst of recovery from the aftermath of the Great Recession.

The primary focus of Cohen's practice is regulatory, acquisition, corporate governance, and securities law matters for major U.S. and non-U.S. banking and other financial institutions and their trade associations. He has acted in most of the major U.S. bank acquisitions and recent government-sponsored and capital-raising efforts and provides corporate governance advice to a large number of financial and non-financial institutions, both as regular clients and as special assignments. He has played a singular role in the market events that have changed the face of the financial services industry and economy, for which The American Lawyer has ranked Mr. Cohen #1 among its 25 "Dealmakers of the Year," noting that "he was Wall Street's go-to lawyer during the most important months for the American banking industry since the Great Depression." In October 2009, the Financial Times presented Mr. Cohen with an FT Special Achievement Award in recognition of his work on nearly 20 substantial credit crisis-related transactions. Mr. Cohen was the only lawyer named to "The Power 25: Leaders in Finance" list published by Institutional Investor in its December 2009/January 2010 issue.

NOLHGA's 2010 Legal Seminar will be held on July 15-16 at New York's Marriott Marquis in Times Square (an MPC meeting will be held on July 13 and 14). Hotel reservations, online registration, and other meeting information can be found on the meeting Web page.

Pre-Funded Resolution Fund Out of Senate Regulatory Reform Bill

As Senate debate continues on the "Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010," Democrats and Republicans have agreed to remove from the bill the proposed $50 billion fund for resolution of large financial institutions. In its place, the resolution of such companies can be funded by the FDIC out of the Orderly Liquidation Fund in the Treasury Department, and the costs will be recouped by assessments against financial services companies. At this time, these assessments could be made against insurance companies if they are deemed large enough to participate in the resolution process.

NOLHGA's Financial Services Modernization Committee continues to track activity on the bill and any developments in the House as well. Links to the House and Senate bills, along with articles discussing regulatory reform, can be found in the Financial Regulatory Reform forum on the GA Message Boards, which are located in the Member Resources menu in the password-protected section of the NOLHGA Web site. Access to the boards is currently restricted to guaranty association administrators, who must register on the bulletin board homepage before they can view the various forums and post messages on them.