Michael D. Lewis

Representative matters Michael has worked on include:

• Advising Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce on its approximately US$5 billion acquisition of PrivateBancorp, Inc., a bank holding company based in the Midwest.
• Represented Synchrony Financial in its acquisition of Ally’s point-of-sale financing business, including US$2.2 billion of loan receivables.
• Represented Synchrony Financial in the sale of Pets Best Insurance Services to Independence Pet Holdings, facilitating their collective partnership in the pet insurance and pet-care financing industries.
• Represented Raymond James on its joint venture with Eldridge Industries, called Raymond James Private Credit, to provide private credit solutions to sponsor-backed portfolio companies.
• Represented Castle Creek Capital in its investment in FirstSun’s acquisition of Homestreet.
• Advising several major European and North American banks and their nonbank affiliates on the applicability of and compliance with the proprietary trading and covered fund restrictions of the Volcker Rule, including assisting with the development and implementation of conformance plans for both U.S. and non-U.S. business units, advising on related interpretive questions, analyzing various existing and proposed investment structures, seeking interpretive relief from applicable regulators on behalf of these clients, drafting policies and procedures for ongoing compliance with the Volcker Rule, and advising on potential future reform of the Volcker Rule.
• Assisting a large U.S. bank holding company in conducting a global Bank Holding Company Act compliance review, including assisting with self-reporting of compliance violations that were identified during the review, negotiating potential restructuring and divestiture solutions with the Federal Reserve Board, and developing compliance policies and procedures and other remedial actions.
• Advising several large banks and their affiliates on both minority investments and controlling investments in FinTech and other early-stage companies.
• Providing regular advice to several large bank holding companies with respect to compliance with the Bank Holding Company Act and International Banking Act, with an emphasis on the nonbanking activities restrictions of the Bank Holding Company Act and the Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation Y, Regulation K and Regulation W.
• Providing strategic advice to non-U.S. banking organizations on regulatory structure and licensing in the United States, including advising on the powers available to branches of a foreign bank versus other types of U.S. offices of the foreign bank, U.S. bank subsidiaries, and U.S. nonbank affiliates.
• Advising savings associations and savings and loan holding companies on compliance with the Home Owners Loan Act and advising other diversified financial services firms on less common bank regulatory structure and compliance issues.
• Representing private equity funds, hedge funds and asset management firms with respect to investments by or in banks and their holding companies.

Michael is active in pro bono matters and has previously represented a young child in a custody dispute, and has advised clients on wills, powers of attorney, and healthcare proxies at a clinic that assists people suffering from HIV or AIDS that are unable to afford legal advice.

• Executive Council of the Banking Law Section, Federal Bar Association, Member
• American Bar Association, Member
• The Banking Law Journal, Editorial Board Member