Today the Federal Trade Commission announced a new rule directed specifically at regulating the debt relief industry. Initially proposed eleven months ago, the new rule implements a vast set of requirements and prohibitions, including an absolute ban on charging any fees to consumers before settlements are reached with creditors.
On Friday, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Banking closed Ravenswood Bank, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and appointed the FDIC as receiver for the bank.
On Friday, the Oregon Division of Finance and Corporate Securities closed LibertyBank, headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, and appointed the FDIC as receiver for the bank.
On Friday, the Georgia Department of Banking & Finance closed NorthWest Bank and Trust, headquartered in Acworth, Georgia, and appointed the FDIC as receiver for the bank.
President Barack Obama gave his imprimatur to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 on July 21. Relatively few of the provisions in the new law implicate the Bankruptcy Code. However, among other things, the law does call on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, in consultation with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (the "Administrative Office"), to conduct two bankruptcy-related studies.
Receiverships are becoming a popular tool for creditors to manage distressed real estate and to realize upon their collateral. Lenders are looking at receiverships as a faster and more efficient and cost effective strategy than forcing a debtor into bankruptcy. They offer the lender flexibility as opposed to well established procedures under bankruptcy. The current economy is also resulting in increased use of receiverships to complete unfinished buildings.
Title II of the Act, designated "Orderly Liquidation Authority" – effective July 21, 2010 – establishes what is intended to be an orderly liquidation process for "financial companies" whose collapse or potential collapse are determined to constitute a risk to the financial system as a whole. Such systemically significant institutions would be liquidated under these new procedures, rather than being treated under existing bankruptcy laws. (The intent of Act is that most-failing financial companies will continue to be administered under existing bankruptcy laws.)
On Friday, the California Department of Financial Institutions closed Sonoma Valley Bank, headquartered in Sonoma, California, and appointed the FDIC as receiver.