ABI Blog Exchange

More on Belize: Marine Conservation is Nice; Deeper Haircuts Are Better

A couple of additional thoughts on Belize’s debt workout, especially the relatively novel aspect involving the pre-funding of a marine conservation trust. The deal has featured prominently in the financial press lately, with great coverage in the FT

Industry scrambles to prepare for CFPB debt collection rules

Your Fall Financial Plans!

It’s officially Fall! Get ready to pull out those warm sweaters & start planning for your holiday expenses! In order to plan for your holiday expenses, you’ll need to think about Halloween costumes, decorations, and candy for trick or treaters. For

NCBJ 2021: CLLA Luncheon: Ethics Goes to the Movies

Larry Cohen, a lawyer from Vermont and adjunct faculty member at multiple law schools used movie clips to teach legal and judicial ethics. Trying to describe movie clips without being able to play them may be a fool's errand but I will do my best. I

NCBJ 2021: Even the Circuits Can't Agree

ABI Editor at Large Bill Rochelle hosted a group of three panels discussing three different legal issues. The issues included one legitimate circuit split, a dispute between lower courts and a divided state court panel. Recharacterization Issue one

Rembrandt van Rijn - The Bankruptcy of 1656 - The Art, Loves and Insolvency of a Great Artist

Judge Scott Clarkson (Bankr. C.D. Cal.) gave a fascinating talk on the art, loves and insolvency of Rembrandt van Rijn. While this talk may not have a lot of practical import, Judge Clarkson tells a great story. Introduction Rembrandt van Rijn was

The Super Cool Belize "Debt for Coral Reefs" Restructuring

This blog post draws on ideas developed with Ugo Panizza (Professor of International Economics, Graduate Institute) that form part of a paper we are working on. I am to blame for any errors though. In 2020, the stock of public debt in debt in

Random Thoughts from the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges

I have attended and blogged about this conference for a number of years. I remember being captivated by Paul Begala talking about Barack Obama's belief in American Exceptionalism and Gene Wedoff being honored for his service as a judge. This made me

NCBJ 2021: Jeopardy, the Broken Bench Edition

The National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges is back this year in Indianapolis with a hybrid format for in person and virtual attendees. About 750 in person attendees helped to prop up the local hospitality industry. Every year the conference kicks

Capital Credit Union in Wisconsin names new CEO

Two dozen banks sidestep Texas law punishing gun, oil policies

JPMorgan joins Net-Zero Banking Alliance with emissions pledge

Oportun pulls bank charter application, says it plans to refile

Will massive outage set back Facebook's payments plans?

Chatbots offer advice without judgment. Low-income people are noticing.

Temporary insolvency practice direction provides certainty about administration appointments

Throughout the pandemic we have seen a succession of temporary practice directions, enabling practitioners to deal with the swearing of notices of intention (NOI) and notices of appointment (NOA) of administrators remotely, as well as answering a

One bank’s response to climate change: Financing condo retrofits

Direct loans from SBA are no threat to private lenders

The New Rules Of Asset Protection

I coined a new rule about asset protection schemes after meeting with a bankruptcy prospect: If the asset protection plan is too complicated for the owner to explain, it probably won’t stand up to challenge. This man had paid an attorney a fistful of

California cracks down on nonbanks that charge overdraft fees