Will C.
Giles

On January 22, 2025, CardWorks, Inc. (“CardWorks”), a leader in credit and payments, and Ally Financial Inc. (“Ally”), a financial services company with the nation’s largest all‑digital bank and an industry‑leading auto financing business, announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for CardWorks, and its wholly‑owned bank subsidiary, Merrick Bank, to acquire Ally’s credit card business, including a portfolio of $2.3 billion in credit card receivables with 1.3 million active cardholders as of December 31, 2024. Cravath is representing CardWorks in connection with the transaction.

On September 26, 2024, Citigroup Inc. (“Citi”) and Apollo announced they have entered into an exclusive agreement for a subsidiary of Citi and certain affiliates of Apollo to form a landmark $25 billion private credit, direct lending program initially in North America, with the potential to expand to additional geographies. The program will include participation from Mubadala Investment Company as Apollo’s strategic partner as well as Apollo’s subsidiary, Athene, both of which will have the opportunity to join commitments appropriate for their respective mandates. The firms anticipate the program will finance approximately $25 billion of debt opportunities over the next several years, encompassing both corporate and financial sponsor transactions, and maintain the flexibility to significantly expand the size of the program beyond the initial $25 billion. Cravath is representing Citi in connection with the agreement.

On August 12, 2024, Scotiabank announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire an approximate 14.9% pro-forma ownership stake in KeyCorp, a premier U.S. based financial services company, through an issuance of common shares at a price of $17.17 per share. The total cash consideration is approximately $2.8 billion. Cravath is representing Scotiabank in connection with the transaction.

Cravath represented the underwriters in connection with the $850 million offering of depositary shares representing preferred stock of State Street Corporation, a provider of a broad range of financial products and services to institutional investors worldwide. The transaction closed on July 24, 2024.

On July 1, 2024, Silvergate announced it has agreed to settlements with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Federal Reserve”), the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (“DFPI”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). In a statement, Silvergate noted its decision to liquidate voluntarily and without government assistance in March 2023, and that, as of November 2023, all deposits had been repaid to banking customers, soon after which Silvergate ceased banking operations. The announced settlements, which facilitate the surrender of Silvergate’s bank charter, are part of the Bank’s continued orderly wind down and conclude investigations by the Federal Reserve, DFPI, and SEC. Cravath represented Silvergate in connection with the investigations, resulting settlements, and voluntary liquidation.

On February 2, 2024, Cravath published a memo for its clients entitled “Potential FSOC Scrutiny of ‘Big Tech’ Firms.”

On November 20, 2023, Cravath published an executive summary‑style alert for its clients, with insights and reflections on the procedural guidance that the Financial Stability Oversight Council (“FSOC”) recently finalized for designating nonbank financial companies as “systemically important financial institutions” (“SIFIs”).

Cravath of counsel Will C. Giles authored an article entitled “NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Compliance Updates In Q2,” which was published to the website of Law360 on July 13, 2023. The article outlines the most significant legislative and regulatory developments in New York financial services law in the second quarter of 2023, including those related to bank closures, the release of a proposed bill to regulate digital asset activities and the passage of legislation that would empower the New York State Department of Financial Services to regulate fees related to consumer bank accounts.

On May 1, 2023, Cravath prepared a memo for its clients entitled “FSOC Proposes New Guidance on Nonbank ‘SIFI’ Designation Process.” The memo examines the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s recent proposals concerning its procedures for designating nonbank financial companies as “systemically important financial institutions” and its framework for assessing financial stability risks. 

On January 30, 2023, Cravath distributed a memo for its clients entitled “Summary of Federal Reserve Board Policy Statement on Section 9(13) of the Federal Reserve Act and Related Developments.” The memo examines key takeaways from recent policy pronouncements regarding cryptoassets made by the Federal Reserve Board (“FRB”) and the White House. In that regard, the memo outlines the FRB’s recent policy statement, which effectively prohibits FRB‑regulated banks from engaging in most cryptoasset activities as principal.  Please click here to read the memo.