Financial Institutions and Banking

The credit crisis has had profound consequences for financial market participants, precipitating bank failures, litigation, and regulatory reform. Institutions with subprime exposures remain embroiled in litigation, but problems for financial institutions and banks went beyond subprime finance to affect their wider operations. Some directors and officers at the helm of institutions that failed now face FDIC suits. More generally, changes in regulation and supervision of financial services are affecting institutions across the board. Complying with these new regulations requires significant changes in the way financial services firms operate.

NERA works with financial institutions in both litigation and business contexts, providing economic and financial consulting and expert testimony. Our finance experts have had hands-on experience working at government regulatory bodies such as the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the International Monetary Fund, and the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. NERA experts have also worked for leading financial services firms, including Bank of America, Barclays, Banque Paribas, CS First Boston, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch. NERA’s experience and expertise make the firm a leader in the core capabilities that are critical to helping financial institutions operate in the new competitive environment and manage emerging regulatory and enforcement challenges.
  
NERA assists with issues surrounding:

• Risk management practices
• Valuation of financial products including complex derivatives and securities, regulatory examinations and investigations
• FDIC professional liability litigation against failed bank directors and officers
• Securities litigation
• Complex commercial disputes
• Forensic accounting, including proper application of accounting rules
• Bankruptcy

We provide advice and training, including design and implementation of models needed to comply with rules and regulations, assessments of business lines and functions before regulatory examinations, and assistance to firms in responding to examinations.