Douglas Landy
Biography
Overview
Douglas Landy serves as co-head of White & Case's Financial Institutions Industry Group and head of the US Financial Services Regulatory practice. He is also a member of the Firm's Fintech practice.
Doug is one of the most preeminent US lawyers advising financial institutions on regulatory issues, and blockchain and crypto matters. He represents global banks on the creation of blockchain and crypto trading platforms, investments, custody, payment systems, stablecoins and related financial products. Doug has also been advising non-bank Fintech companies on potential bank charters, bank relationships and similar charters and licenses.
Clients benefit from his deep understanding of banking and securities laws, along with his thorough and practical legal analysis. He has represented banks in some of the largest M&A transactions in banking history, and in some of the most significant regulatory and Fintech events of the last two decades. Doug was a key advisor to many leading banks and industry advocacy groups during the last financial crisis, the subsequent regulatory reform period, and during the recent insolvencies of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and Silvergate Bank. He began his career at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. His regulatory practice focuses on matters involving almost every significant regulatory issue, including bank charters and licenses, the Volcker Rule, capital requirements, insolvency issues, and US laws and regulations applicable to non-US banks. Doug is credited for coining the widely-used acronym "TOTUS" for the important Volcker Rule exclusion for trading outside of the United States.
Presently, Doug is representing the Unsecured Creditors Committees of each of the Celsius and Genesis bankruptcies, as well as a bidder for the FTX bankrupt trading platform. He is at the center of almost every important debate in the blockchain and crypto industry.
Consistently noted for his excellent work, Doug has been ranked as a leading lawyer in financial services regulation since 2007. Among the services that rank Doug are Chambers USA, Chambers Global, IFLR 1000 and The International Who's Who of Banking Lawyers. He was called a "star" in The Lawyer Magazine Transatlantic Elite and is considered "one of the US' leading banking and financial services regulatory lawyers" and he "represents many of the best-known global financial institutions in their US regulatory matters."
Doug has been active in pro bono matters, and is a member of the ADL Lawyers Division.
Experience
Representative matters include:
Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in connection with Celsius Network Ltd's Chapter 11 proceedings in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York
Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors to Genesis Global in its Chapter 11 filing
Figure Technologies, Inc. in a potential bid for the U.S. operations of FTX, which is in bankruptcy
an ad hoc cross-holder group of noteholders and preferred stockholders (the "Ad Hoc Group") in the chapter 11 case of SVB Financial Group, pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The Ad Hoc Group's members include, among others, Appaloosa, Centerbridge Partners, Silver Point Capital, and Citadel Advisors
Citibank in its merger with Travelers, the largest financial services merger at the time
JPMorgan in its revolutionary use of blockchain tokens to allow intra-day repo trades, the first time that a US bank has tokenized an existing, significant trading product
The State of Wyoming in the amendment of its UCC and Banking laws to permit new digital asset banks, and the custody of, and secured interests in, digital assets
The FIA, LSTA and The Clearing House on CCP risk, capital matters and advocacy
Dozens of US and foreign banks in Volcker Rule advocacy, interpretation and compliance reviews
The largest bank credit default swap counterparty to AIG FP in the federal bailout and creation of Maiden Lane III
DTCC in many rule filings, applications for clearing membership, comment letters and corporate matters
A European government in a $30 million backstop of a troubled US subsidiary of a European bank; and a $57 billion "bad bank" of troubled assets for a separate European bank
Over $100 billion in Federal Reserve discount window pledges
Rabobank in the criminal plea of its US subsidiary bank
Practising Law Institute: ‘Banking Law Institute 2023 – Fintech and Digital Assets’ (October 2023)
The Wall Street Blockchain Alliance: 'Crypto Insolvencies: Unraveling the Impact of Industry Failures and the Evolving Role of the Bankruptcy Courts' (October 2023)
American Bar Association: 'The Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank Columbia A, Level 3 and Signature Bank: What it Means for the Financial Ecosystem?' (April 2023)
Doug has published more than 130 scholarly pieces on banking, fintech, and financial services topics. He is widely quoted in these areas by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, The Times London and numerous others.
Select recent publications include:
Global Legal Insights: 'The regulation of stablecoins in the United States' (October 2023)
White & Case Insight: 'Tying deposit insurance reform to reform of the tying of deposits', (October 2023)
White & Case Insight: 'Top Depositor Questions on the Silicon Valley Bank Receivership', (March 2023)
The Banking Law Journal: 'How Should Foreign Banks Be Permitted to Engage in Nonbanking Activities within the United States?' (November-December 2022)
American Banker: 'The not-so-stable state of stablecoin regulation' (December 2021)
Thought Leader: Banking – Regulatory (USA)
Who's Who Legal, 2023
Band 2: Corporate, Securities & Financing
"[h]is expertise is fantastic, and he gets back to me faster than everyone else. Doug … [is] firmly in the elite category in the Fintech space."
Chambers FinTech Legal, 2023
Key Lawyer: Fintech - Nationwide
Chambers USA, 2023
Key Lawyer: Crypto
The Legal 500 US, 2023
Recommended Lawyer: Fintech and Blockchain
Who’s Who Legal 2022, 2023
