Insights

San Francisco – October 20, 2022: A cross-practice Crowell & Moring team represented Astra, a leading provider of advanced bank-to-bank transfer technology for financial institutions, fintech startups, and enterprises, in closing a $10 million Series A financing and securing a $30 million line of credit. The financing will support the growth of Astra’s team — with a particular focus on engineering and compliance resources — to further enable faster payments from all sources to any destination.

London—October 13, 2021: Legal 500 has again listed Crowell & Moring as one of the top UK law firms in The Legal 500 UK 2021 for its asset-based lending work.

San Francisco – February 10, 2021: Crowell & Moring advised Kountable Inc., the leading global trade and technology platform, in connection with its Series A-1 financing lead by Lateral Capital. Kountable secured this round of funding as part of its efforts to expand its U.S. presence and widen its COVID response to further support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Kountable platform operates as the necessary missing element that gets critical goods delivered in difficult market conditions. For the past five years, Kountable has activated the capability of SMEs through is curated execution network to efficiently complete large scale projects for governments, foundations, NGOs, and corporations that have had a positive impact on millions of lives. Kountable has solved the challenges of collaboration between critical but overlooked SMEs who play a key role in the success of vast swaths of global trade activity, global multinational suppliers, funders, and logistics and trade services providers.

There are few things as daunting to a vendor or supplier as its counterparty’s bankruptcy. The likelihood of a significantly discounted recovery for goods and services provided and potential loss of a customer may have long-lasted impacts on profitability.  Even worse, however, is the prospect that payments received in good faith prior to a debtor’s bankruptcy filing may be at risk of recoupment. In this alert, we address the risk that such payments are voidable as preferential transfers. Section 547 of the Bankruptcy Code codifies the power of the debtor to recover payments that were made within the 90 days preceding the filing. Very generally, a debtor (or trustee) may recover any transfer that is (i) made to or for the benefit of a creditor (e.g., a payment or grant of lien), (ii) on account of antecedent debt (i.e., a debt already incurred), (iii) made while the debtor was insolvent, (iv) within the 90 days prior to the petition date (or one year for insiders), and (v) that enables the creditor to receive more that it would have in a liquidation. The parties’ respective intent is irrelevant.

On June 6, 2023, The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Department of the Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued final joint guidance for banking organizations on managing risks associated with third-party relationships.  Previously, the Board (2013), FDIC (2008) and OCC (2013 and 2020) had all issued their own separate guidance for their respective supervised banking organizations. After extensive review and analysis of comments provided from July-October 2021 on proposed interagency guidance, the prior issuances by separate regulators were rescinded and replaced by the final joint interagency guidance[1].  The guidance was over ten years in the making, and corresponds with an observed increase in the number and types of third-party relationships used by banks.  The use by banks of fintech companies is a prime example; there has been an explosion in the variety of services offered to banks by such companies.  The guidance is intended to promote a consistent message on risk management from the agencies, and to more clearly articulate risk-based principles for third-party risk management.

During the first quarter of 2022, Crowell’s Bankruptcy, Restructuring, and Insolvency (BRI) team continued developing valuable blog content focused on the latest developments across the world of bankruptcy and financial restructuring both in the US and the UK. Our Restructuring Matters Blog tracks and evaluates significant developments on a number of issues and cases to keep readers updated on major bankruptcy decisions and trends, developments in best practices for various finance and restructuring strategies, and the potential impact of the major case decisions and trends for various business sectors.

College member Scott Lessne and Andrew Knight will be participating in this annual seminar sponsored by the College. The topic, "Distributed Ledger Technology and the UCC", will feature a working session and discussion lead by Professors Charles W. "Chuck" Mooney, Jr., University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Carla L. Reyes, Michigan State University College of Law.

This program will explore legal, business and practical similarities and differences in cross-border asset-based lending transactions with a focus on Canada, England and the United States.

Separate and apart from the financial assistance being provided to small businesses through the Small Business Administration, Congress has set aside $500,000,000,000 for wide ranging financial assistance to selected industries and mid-sized businesses characterized as having between 500 and 10,000 employees. The Secretary of the Treasury has been granted sweeping authority, through use of a variety of financial institutions, to structure the form, the terms, the underwriting, and the application process for this financial assistance. With more detailed regulations still several days away, this webinar will provide an outline of the major points of the legislation, including a discussion of the wide latitude being afforded the Secretary of the Treasury to assure that taxpayer funds are appropriately used and protected.

Join a Crowell & Moring team of former Capitol Hill staff and lawyers who have scoured and digested the COVID-19 Stimulus Law and will provide both a big picture summary of the law, including the top ten things you need to know about it. Prepare yourself for internal meetings this week on what it means for your company, your employees and you. Learn what questions you should be asking next, as well as how to prepare to apply for any possible benefits.

Crowell & Moring panelists will discuss antitrust compliance issues for both US and European syndicated loan transactions. The session is particularly timely as the European Commission is currently reviewing potential antitrust concerns raised by syndicated lending arrangements with plans to issue a report by year end. When the Commission launched this review, it noted that syndicated lending “exhibits close cooperation between market participants in opaque or in transparent settings, such as over-the-counter (OTC) activities, which are particularly vulnerable to anti-competitive conduct.” Experienced antitrust and lending experts will: