Gardner of KBW to Speak at Legal Seminar

Bryan Gardner, a Senior Vice President and Political Analyst for KBW Asset Management, is scheduled to speak at NOLHGA's Legal Seminar in July. As a boutique investment management firm, KBW specializes in securities of primarily U.S. companies engaged in the financial services industry.

In his role as KBW's Washington analyst, Gardner follows political, legislative, and regulatory developments and advises the company's clients on what these events mean to the financial markets and investors. He works with KBW's research analysts as they incorporate political events into their industry and company analysis.

Before joining KBW, Gardner practiced law with the New York law firm of Schulte Roth & Zabel, where he was an associate in the bank regulatory group. Gardner also served as a legislative assistant to former Congressman Rick Lazio. He then served as staff director and counsel for former Congressman Richard Baker. Gardner handled financial service issues for both of these former members of the House Financial Services Committee. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Fordham University.

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. For hotel reservations, the NOLHGA rate for meeting nights is $199/night plus tax; some additional nights are in the NOLHGA room block at a discounted rate of $259/night.

Senate Passes Finance Bill

On the evening of May 20, 2010, the U.S. Senate passed the "Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010" by a vote of 59 to 39. The bill now goes to a House-Senate conference committee to resolve differences between the Senate and House bills. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, has said that he expects President Obama to sign the final bill before the July 4 holiday.

The provisions regarding resolution of large financial institutions are identical to those reported in last week's Wire. Resolution of such companies would be funded by the FDIC out of the Orderly Liquidation Fund in the Treasury Department, and the costs would be recouped by assessments against financial services companies.

The Senate bill would establish an Office of National Insurance (ONI) in the Department of the Treasury. The ONI would have no supervisory or regulatory authority over the business of insurance, but it would be required to conduct a study on how to improve and modernize insurance regulation. As part of the study, the ONI is charged with examining the potential consequences of subjecting insurance companies to a federal resolution authority, including the effects of any federal resolution authority on the operation of state insurance guaranty fund systems.

NOLHGA's Financial Services Modernization Committee continues to track activity on the bill and any developments in the House as well. Links to and summaries of 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.