Top 10 Finance and Banking Headlines from North America The Obama administration continues to tout the performance of the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009," signed into law February 17, 2009 and commonly called the "Stimulus Bill" (Public Law 111-5). As part of its financial regulatory reform program, the Obama Administration, through the Treasury, submitted to Congress proposed legislation that would establish a new consumer regulatory agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (the “CFPA”), which would consolidate and expand the existing regulatory regime for consumer financial products. Proposals to require the registration of investment advisers to private funds continue to work their way through Congress. Letters of intent or memoranda of understanding are frequently used in private equity transactions to evidence the preliminary understanding of a potential transaction before the parties commit significant time and resources to the transaction. The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a long-awaited decision that many practitioners had hoped would provide insight into the permissible breadth of third-party releases and injunctions often contained in confirmed chapter 11 plans. A proposed change to lease accounting rules appears to be gaining traction and could have a large impact on both the debt reported on a company's balance sheet and its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). With the events of 2008 and 2009, the industry's outlook seemed bleak. Sponsors, broker-dealers, and registered representatives spent most that time wrestling with problems and asset management. There has been increasing pressure on banks to increase their equity capital levels (and decrease their leverage ratio) in response to losses caused by declines in asset values. In a recent ruling from the bench, Judge James M. Peck of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York held that Metavante Corporation’s suspension of payments under an outstanding swap agreement with Lehman Brothers Special Financing Inc. (“LBSF”) was not safe harbored, and instead violated the automatic stay of section 362(a) of the Bankruptcy Code. If nothing else, a visit to China confirms that the economic centre of gravity is shifting to Asia and that trend is being accelerated by the global recession. | 
