2012 is shaping up as a year of bankruptcy first impressions for the Ninth Circuit. The court of appeals sailed into uncharted bankruptcy waters twice already this year in the same chapter 11 case. On January 24, the court ruled in In re Thorpe Insulation Co., 2012 WL 178998 (9th Cir. Jan. 24, 2012) ("Thorpe I"), that an appeal by certain nonsettling asbestos insurers of an order confirming a chapter 11 plan was not equitably moot because, among other things, the plan had not been "substantially consummated" under the court's novel construction of that statutory term.

On Friday, the Office of Thrift Supervision closed Security Savings Bank, F.D.B., headquartered in Olathe, Kansas, and appointed the FDIC as receiver.

On Friday, the Missouri Division of Finance closed WestBridge Bank, headquartered in Chesterfield, Missouri, and appointed the FDIC as receiver.

Yesterday, following announcements from Ally Financial and JP Morgan Chase of temporary suspensions of foreclosure efforts in certain states, Fannie Mae issued a statement yes

Yesterday, the European Commission announced that it was termporarily approving, under E.U.

Today, the European Commission announced its approval, under EU State Aid rules, of the restructuring of Latvian bank, Parex, which was partially nationalized in November 2008.

As attention shifts from the global financial crisis of 2008–2009 to the global sovereign crisis that currently is affecting much of Europe, lawmakers are scrambling to create new laws and regulations designed to stave off the next financial crisis.[1] Meanwhile, a different threat quietly has been growing in America's states, cities, towns, municipalities, and other political subdivisions.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has proposed new rules to "codify the terms of conservatorship and receivership operations for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks," as required by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.