Practice Focus

Kevin Barnard serves as co-head of the firm's financial service practice. Prior to joining Arnold & Porter LLP in 2008, he practiced law at White & Case where he headed the bank advisory practice and was a member of the management board. Previously, Mr. Barnard was the Deputy Superintendent of Banks and General Counsel of the New York State Banking Department and an attorney in the Washington, DC, and New York offices of the US Department of Treasury, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Mr. Barnard has extensive experience advising banking organizations concerning the application of US banking and securities laws to their global activities. He focuses his practice in assisting clients in structuring acquisitions, new product developments, and internal reorganization plans to achieve maximum benefit under applicable laws and, where necessary, to obtain regulatory approvals permitting clients to implement their objectives. Additionally, he advises financial institutions on regulatory issues, including BSA and anti-money laundering issues and investigatory matters, as well as related corporate and litigation matters. He also has advised sovereign wealth funds and private equity funds in connection with investments in US financial institutions.

Mr. Barnard regularly represents clients negotiating and settling administrative enforcement actions brought by federal and state banking authorities. He advises clients generally, regarding margin regulations, anti-tying rules, capital adequacy requirements, Bank Holding Company Act issues, and pending legislation relevant to their ongoing US operations. He provides advice to his clients regarding the impact of the US PATRIOT Act on their operations. He has also served as special counsel to two blue-ribbon panels formed in New York to improve the financial services regulatory system and co-authored the reports issued by each panel.

Mr. Barnard is a frequent lecturer on bank regulatory and enforcement matters.

Representative Matters

• Representing the Trustees of AIG Credit Facility Trust in a wide range of matters including financial regulatory, corporate governance, M&A, press and media relations, and congressional oversight.  
• Representing one of Switzerland’s largest banks in a range of matters with respect to claims against Lehman Brothers.
• Representing Banco do Brasil, S.A., the largest bank in Latin and South America, in all aspects of its US expansion strategy including the establishment of a full service subsidiary bank, a multistate funds transmittal company and a state of the art IT and processing facility.
• Represented Temasek Holdings, a sovereign wealth fund wholly owned by the government of Singapore, regarding US banking laws relevant to their investment activities, and before the Federal Reserve Board regarding US investments.
• Representing one of the largest NY-based savings institutions on a variety of regulatory matters, including the approval by the Federal Reserve Board of its bank holding company and its obtaining financial holding company status with Federal Reserve.
• Advised the Ministry of a foreign sovereign on the operations of an international relief program with respect to fraud and possible causes of actions.
• Representing the bank audit committee of a large privately owned bank on an internal investigation.
• Provided counsel to Deutsche Bank regarding the US aspects of its acquisition of Morgan Grenfell Group PLC and its acquisition of Bankers Trust Corporation, the largest acquisition ever of a US banking organization by a non-US purchaser.
• Advised a French governmental entity on US regulatory issues relating to the activities of former employees of a French bank, and he has been retained by two state government banking regulators to advise them on regulatory and policy matters. 
• Advised Deutsche Bank on the sale of its late-stage private equity portfolio through a management buyout, and represented Banco de Galicia in its restructuring of US$300 million of debt obligations in connection with the closing of its New York branch.
• Advised the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) regarding the establishment of a unique banking vehicle to perform critical securities clearing activities in the event of disruption in existing clearing services for the US$1 trillion-plus daily trading volume in the US debt markets.
• Advised UBS AG concerning US regulatory matters, including the merger of Swiss Bank Corporation and Union Bank of Switzerland in 1998 to create UBS AG. 
• Represented the acquirer of Apple Bank, one of the few successful hostile takeovers of a US bank in 1989 and 1990.
• Represents Allied Irish Bank, Banco do Brasil, Goldman Sachs Trust Company, Emigrant Bancorp, International Strategy & Investments Group Inc., Svenska Handelsbanken, BNP Paribas, Bank of China, Natixis Banque Populaire, Nordea Bank, and Apple Bank in a range of regulatory and transaction-structuring matters.