Given that The Am Law Daily can only cover so much ground during the course of a week, we’ve compiled this handy digest of legal stories you might have missed in the first installment of what we expect will be a recurring feature.
BAD BANKS: We suppose it makes sense that the same week that saw Hector Santsthe former head of Britains Financial Services Authoritynamed the new compliance head at Barclays and former U.S. Department of Treasury official Robert Werner tapped by HSBC as its new head of financial crime compliance, also saw U.S. regulators taking aim at wayward financial services institutions. Cahill Gordon & Reindel, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and Sullivan & Cromwell took the lead for HSBC on its record-breaking $1.9 billion fine to settle money laundering allegations. The U.S. Department of Justice was forced to defend the deal, which came the same week that another British bank, Standard Chartered (also advised by S&C, as well as Slaughter and May), agreed to settle Iranian money transfer claims by reaching a $327 million deal with several U.S. regulators. On Friday, Swiss banking giant UBS was reportedly close to reach its own $1 billion rate-rigging settlement, according to sibling publication The National Law Journal.
