Financial Services
Since Squire Sanders opened its doors in 1890, financial institutions have been among our largest and most active clients. For more than a century, we have developed a leading global financial services practice, providing a full range of the highest quality legal services to:
- Commercial banks and finance companies
- Hedge funds and private equity funds
- Insurance companies
- Investment banks and broker-dealers
- Other sources of capital
Many of our lawyers have spent their entire careers representing financial institutions, and several have substantial experience serving as officers of leading financial services firms or as banking, insurance or securities regulators. We routinely advise financial institutions around the world on matters regarding:
- Banking and debt finance
- Capital markets and corporate finance
- Corporate governance and transactions
- Derivatives
- Insurance
- International issues
- Litigation and alternative dispute resolution
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- Mergers, acquisitions and dispositions
- Project finance
- Regulatory issues
- Restructurings and workouts
- Securities
- Structured finance
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Our deep knowledge of the financial services industry allows us to provide clients tailored, practical and solution-oriented legal service.
We serve as primary or preferred legal advisors to several leading global and national financial institutions, as well as many regional and community focused financial institutions. Also, we have represented various regulatory authorities and governmental agencies that provide oversight or serve as sources of liquidity to the financial services sector. Our lawyers have successfully represented these clients in numerous groundbreaking business transactions, regulatory matters and in high stakes litigation. One of our greatest strengths is our fully integrated operating model, which allows us to leverage this global experience for the benefit of each client.
Practice Expertise
Representative Experience
- Serving as bond counsel to Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corporation in its issuance of more than US$5.6 billion in tax exempt and taxable senior secured bonds and refunding bonds to augment the resources of its High-Risk Account and its Personal Lines Account/Commercial Lines Account. Citizens is a statutorily created insurer of last resort that provides property and casualty insurance to qualified risk (certain claims arising from windstorm and other weather-related events).
- Representing the lead agent in connection with a US$150 million multicurrency, cross-border syndicated secured credit facility for an industrial component manufacturer.
- Representing a US nationally recognized supplemental insurance carrier in an agency contract termination dispute. The court directed a verdict in favor of the insurance carrier with regard to the terminated agency’s claims on conversion, breach of fiduciary duty and punitive damages.
- Representing the lead arranger and agent in a syndicated revolving credit facility aggregating US$175 million (with an accordion option for an additional US$75 million) for a manufacturer.
- Representing the US-based life insurance subsidiary of a Europe-based insurance company in a class action that alleged securities fraud in the sale of variable life insurance products.
- Causing a motion for class certification to be withdrawn representing a nonprofit managed care company in the United States in a putative class action brought by physicians challenging the legality of our client's reimbursement and claims-handling practices and seeking to represent a class of health care providers that had provided medical services to our client's insured.
- Representing the lead agent in connection with a US$150 million asset-based, cross-border, syndicated credit facility in conjunction with a split collateral pool-structured US$100 million syndicated term loan facility for a Tier II automotive and truck electrical component manufacturer.
- Representing the lead arranger and agent in a syndicated multicurrency revolving credit facility aggregating US$280 million (with an accordion option for an additional US$50 million) for a US-based manufacturing group with non-US subsidiaries.
- Representing the lead agent in connection with a US$40 million syndicated secured credit facility for a private equity fund purchase of a materials manufacturing company.
- Defeating a nationwide class action certification on behalf of the life insurance subsidiary of a Southeastern financial services company. The case originated in Iowa and involved claims of fraud, breach of contract, bad faith and RICO violations in connection with the sale of life insurance policies.
Case Studies
In November 2009, Squire Sanders filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases for AmTrust Financial Corporation (now known as AmFin Financial Corporation) and five subsidiaries in Cleveland. AmTrust Financial was the holding company for AmTrust Bank, which was ...
Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, a statutorily created insurer of last resort that provides property and casualty insurance to qualified risks in Florida, needed to enhance its ability to pay claims arising from windstorm and other weather-re...