Research Guides: Regulation of Financial Institutions: Get Started (2024)

This guide is meant to help you find laws and information regarding the regulation of financial institutions; the goal is to provide useful (but not exhaustive) resources.

Good research requires analysis and synthesis of information, and no one resource will likely provide sufficient information or data on any given topic.

While conducting your research, you may want to explore:

• Laws and regulationsgoverningfinancial institutions

• Government, industry,and/or advocacyorganizations relating to financial institutions

• Secondary sources, including treatises, articles (both scholarly and practical), andpractice or study aids

• News sources and other current awareness

For many of the relevant databases, you will need yourHarvard Key or University ID and PIN. For others, you may need to register with your Harvard email address to gain access. If you have any trouble accessing a database, please contact the library.

• Bloomberg Law - Banking & Finance Practice Center

• Lexis - Banking & Financial Services Practice Center

• Lexis - Banking Law Practice Area

• Westlaw - Finance & Banking Practice Area

US Statutes

• Title12 US Code - Banks & Banking
• Laws that Govern the Securities IndustryPart of the SEC website; provides information about – and links to–the full text of:
  • the Securities Act of 1933,
  • the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
  • the Trust Indenture Act of 1939,
  • the Investment Company Act of 1940,
  • the Investment Advisers Act of 1940,
  • the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002,
  • the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act, and
  • the Jumpstart Our Business Startup Act

Congressional Committees

• U.S. Senate Committee: Finance
• U.S. House Committee: Financial Services

US Regulations

• Code of Federal Regulations

Title 12: Banks & Banking
Title 13: Business & Credit Assistance
Title 16: Commercial Practices
Title 17: Commodity and Security Exchanges
Title 31: Money and Finance: Treasury

• Rules & Regulations for the SEC and Major Securities Laws (Part of the SEC website.)
• Federal Register's Money Section (government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices relating to financial matters, published on a daily basis, excluding federal holidays)

Federal Regulatory Agencies

A number of federal agencies and sub-agencies oversee and regulate financial institutions and financial markets in the U.S., each with specific responsibilities but with the common goalof protecting investors and consumers through sensible regulations.

Commodities Regulation

• Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)

Consumer Protection

• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau(CFPB)
• Federal Housing Administration
• Federal Housing Finance Agency
• Financial Stability Oversight Council(FSOC)

Depository Institutions

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FCID)
• Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council
• Federal Reserve System (the Fed)
• National Credit Union Administration
• Office of the Comptroller of the Currency(OCC)

Pensions

• Department of Labor'sEmployee Benefits Security Administration(EBSA)
• Internal Revenue Service (IRS) - Retirement Plans
• Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)

Securities

• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Tax

• Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

• FederalRegister.gov's Money Section

  Federal agency documents relating to money, published in the Federal Register.

• Banking Law, by Donald Resseguie

  Banking Law covers the organization, operation, examination, regulation, powers, and liquidation of commercial banks; it discusses the legal requirements governing structural changes including branching, mergers and consolidations, and bank holding company formation, expansion, and divestiture; it examines the operations of commercial banks including transfer and negotiation of checks and notes, use of credit cards and electronic banking, and permissible loans and investments. Banking Law also discusses the examination of commercial banks by the federal bank regulatory agencies. The impact of the federal income tax law and the federal securities laws on banks and their activities is examined.

• Banking Law and Regulation, by Michael P. Malloy

  Banking Law and Regulation is a comprehensive three-volume treatise that provides subscribers with essential information covering a wide array of topics concerning the regulation of depository institutions and other competing financial services firms. The new 2nd edition (2024) guides the reader through the brave new world of financial services regulation in the twenty-first century. Many dramatic developments have reshaped the regulation of banks, savings associations, credit unions, and other financial services firms since the first edition of this work appeared in 1994. This exhaustive work provides incisive discussion and analysis of financial services regulation, including extensive treatment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and subsequent legislation—not just an isolated discussion, but a fully integrated treatment of the impact of the legislation on all topics covered in this study. In addition, the work continues to offer a detailed discussion of all major regulatory developments over more than two decades that affect regulatory structures, formation, branching, management, control transactions, corporate powers, securities regulation, and securities activities, holding company activities, mergers and acquisitions, conversions, troubled and failing institutions, systemic risks, and international regulatory policy.

• Consumer Finance Law and Compliance, by Sarah Johnson Auchterlonie & Alexandra Everhart Sickler

  Written by a former CFPB Acting Deputy Director of Enforcement and bank regulator who was one of the CFPB founders, and a former trial attorney in the Executive Office of U.S. Trustees, Consumer Finance Law and Compliance highlights the inner workings of financial regulation, supervision, enforcement, and administrative adjudication, while providing practical insight into the CFPB’s guidance, enforcement activities, and civil money penalties. Informed by case law, consent orders, and documents requested from the agency, this is a comprehensive and authoritative treatment of the subject.

• FinTech Law: Law and Regulation, edited by Jelena Madir

  This fully revised and updated third (3rd) edition provides a practical examination of legal and regulatory issues in FinTech, a sector whose rapid rise in recent years has produced opportunities for innovation but has also raised new challenges. Featuring insights from over 40 experts from 10 countries, this book analyses the statutory aspects of technology-enabled developments in banking and considers the impact these changes will have on the legal profession.

• International Banking Law & Regulation, by the Center for International Legal Studies

  An international team of recognized experts in 60 jurisdictions create a comprehensive resource on international banking law and regulation. These specialists explore: local regulatory bodies and the banking system; chartering or licensing of banks within the jurisdiction; regulatory and supervisory rules for banks; banking reform legislation enacted to facilitate changes or restructuring; international harmonization efforts towards the potential international convergence of bank supervisory standards and local recognition of international banking standards.

• The Law and Practice of International Banking, by Charles Proctor

  A comprehensive and authoritative book written from the perspective of current banking law and practice. It pays particular attention to the needs of legal practitioners in international finance centres and, with a focus on English law, draws extensively on cases from Commonwealth jurisdictions for a comparative approach.

• The Law and Regulation of Financial Institutions, by Milton R. Schroeder

  The Law and Regulation of Financial Institutions provides a practical guide to and analysis of all the major laws and regulations governing financial institution transactions and compliance. It covers the basic principles underlying the law and regulation of financial institutions, explains the laws that control and limit the activities of such institutions, and identifies the legal rights and duties that apply to financial institution transactions involving checks, credit cards, electronic transfers, consumer credit, secured financing, letters of credit, and bankruptcy.

• Michie on Banks and Banking

  Michie on Banks and Banking is an encyclopedic treatise based on exhaustive and continuous study of the case law involving the organization, functions, rights, powers, duties, and liabilities of banks and other financial institutions. With more than 100 subject matter titles, Michie on Banks and Banking addresses virtually any question attendant to banking law and practice.

• Banking and Financial Institutions Law in a Nutshell (KF975 .L68 2024)

  This Nutshell title covers subjects such as the history and structure of the financial services industry and its regulators, the interrelationship between banking law and monetary and economic policy, the regulation of banking itself (including market regulation, international banking, and thrift institutions), securities regulation, insurance regulation, and pension funds, retirement accounts and social security. The book concludes with an analysis of emerging issues in the law of financial intermediaries, including the need for harmonized rules in an increasingly transnational market, the impact of digital currencies and transactions on regulatory policy, and the threat that international crises pose for stable banking and financial markets.

• Bloomberg Law's Banking & Finance Reference Library

  Collection of US and global banking and finance resources. Includes topical global summaries.

• Panoramic (formerly known as "Lexology" and before that, "Getting the Deal Through").

  Lets you quickly compare laws across different countries and includes such Topics as "Banking Regulation," "Financial Services Compliance," "Financial Services Litigation," "Insurance & Reinsurance," and more.

• PLI Plus (Practicing Law Institute)

  Provides you with complete access to Practising Law Institute's authoritative treatises, course handbooks, legal forms, program transcripts and answer books. Using the "Browse" tab, can sort by practice area.

• HeinOnline's Law Journal Library

  Provides access to law reviews and journals. Coverage begins with a journal’s first volume but generally does not include its most recent issues.

• Business Source Complete

  Provides access to articles from over 1,200 business-related academic journals, magazines and trade publications. Business Source Complete also provides indexing and abstracts for a selection of the most important scholarly business journals as far back as 1886.

• EconLit

  Provides access to articles and other documents related to economics. EconLit also indexes articles in over 450 journals as well as books, book reviews, chapters in books, dissertations and working papers from 1969 to the present.

• Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

  Provides access to new scholarship including working papers in accounting, economics, financial economics, law and management.

• Capital Markets Law Journal

• International Financial Law Review

• Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance

• National Futures Association

CONSUMER PROTECTION

• Center for Responsible Lending

DEPOSITORY INSTITUTIONS

• American BankingAssociation
• American Council of State Savings Supervisor
• Conference of State Bank Supervisors
• National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors

INSURANCE

• National Association of Insurance Commissioners

• National Conference of Insurance Guaranty Funds
• National Organization of Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Associations
• State Insurance Department Web-sites(from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners website)

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

• Bank for International Settlements(BIS)

• Institute of International Bankers
• Institute of International Banking Law & Practice(IIBLP)
• International Monetary Fund(IMF)
• International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)
• (links to OECD iLibrary)

PENSIONS

• Employee Benefit Research Institute

SECURITIES

• Financial Industry Regulatory Authority(FINRA)
• Investment Company Institute
• Nasdaq Stock Market
• New York Stock Exchange(NYSE)
• North American Securities Administrators Association
• Securities Investor Protection Corporation

• Bloomberg Law - Banking & Finance Practice Center

• Lexis - Banking & Financial Services Practice Center

• Lexis - Banking Law Practice Area

• Westlaw - Finance & Banking Practice Area

If you are trying find regulatory information (e.g., information about new or proposed regulations, administrative rulings or other guidance), corporate disclosures, industry news, real-time data, or law/accounting firm memos that include analysis ofsecurities, M&A,tax or other issues, here are some useful tools you can use.

Bloomberg Law(requires individual account):

• ​Federal Banking andFinance Regulation Tracker(Banking & Finance Practice Center)
• SEC Filings:
  • Click on the "Transactional" tab to see the options.
    • Click on "EDGAR Search" to search for SEC filings.
      • When using the EDGAR search template, be sure to click the "Browse Full List" links to see all your options.
      • For example, the Full List under "Forms" includes several options for searching SEC Staff Comment Letters (in addition to SEC Forms, Statements, Exhibits, etc.).
    • Click on "SEC No-Action Letters" to search forSEC No-Action Letters.
      • Again, be sure to click on the "Browse Full List" links to see all your options.
  • For guidance in constructing SEC/EDGAR searches:
    • Go to the "Transactional Intelligence Center Home" (link listed under the "Transactional" tab)
    • Click on "Example Searches" link under "Securities Filings"
    • Expand the menus to see a wide variety of possible searches.
      • If you can't find the exact searach you need you may be able to find a related search you can adapt to meet your needs.
• Law Firm Analysis & Law Firm Client Alerts:
  • Run a search using the main search bar (make sure the indicator to the immediate left of the search bar shows "All Content").
  • Then use the Filtering Tools in the left margin to focus your search results.
    • Under "Content Types," click on "See All Content Types"
    • Then click on "Law Firm Research" to only show relevant Articles and Client Alerts produced by law firms.
• Enforcement Analytics:
  • SEC Administrative Enforcement Analytics: Information about initial decisions issued in enforcement actions by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
  • SEC ALJ Enforcement Analytics: Information about initial decisions issued in enforcement actions by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Administrative Law Judges (ALJs).

Lexis Intelligize (formerly known as Securities Mosaic)(requires yourHUID& PIN):

• Securities Regulation and Compliance (A curated collection of statutes, regulations, and SEC administrative material pertinent to US capital markets.)
• SEC Filings(Another platform to search the SEC's EDGAR database. When possible, Intelligize provides links to the exhibits incorporated by reference in each filing.)
• Firm Memos(Search memos written by law, accounting, and consulting firms on a wide variety of topics.)

Westlaw(requires individual account):

• Laws, Rules & Agency Materials (Finance & Banking Practice Area)
• SEC Filings (see EDGAR Filings & Disclosures)
• Administrative Decisions & Guidance
• Practical Law (Regulation of Financial Institutions)

• American Banker Magazine

• Banking & Finance Law Daily (Wolters Kluwer)

• BNA's Banking Report

• Consumer Financial Services Law Report

• Financial Times

  Join Harvard's subscription.

• Law 360 (see the Banking Section)

• Politico.com (Finance & Tax)

• Wall Street Journal (WSJ.com)

• HLS Forum on Corporate Governance

  Notwithstanding its name, the HLS Forum on Corporate Governance is co-sponsored by the HLS Program on Corporate Governance, the HLS Program on Institutional Investors, and the HLS Program on Law and Finance.

• Global Financial Regulatory Blog (Latham & Watkins LLP) &

• All Things FinReg (Morgan Lewis)

• The OFR Blog (Office of Financial Research)

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