William J. Sweet, Jr. is head of Skadden, Arps' Financial Institutions Regulatory and Enforcement Group and concentrates in financial institution merger and acquisition, regulatory and enforcement matters. Before joining the firm, Mr. Sweet was a staff attorney with the Federal Reserve Board, where he handled bank holding company regulatory, litigation and enforcement matters.
Mr. Sweet represents U.S., Asian, European and Latin American banking, securities and other financial institutions and their boards of directors on the strategic, policy and regulatory aspects of mergers and acquisitions, negotiated investments, joint ventures, restructuring transactions, bankruptcies and receiverships. In addition, Mr. Sweet advises private equity firms and others seeking to invest in regulated financial institutions.
In addition, Mr. Sweet regularly advises financial institutions on compliance and enforcement issues with respect to a broad range of governance, risk management, money laundering compliance, OFAC sanctions, fair lending, consumer, CRA and other matters, including representation before federal and state regulatory and enforcement agencies.
Mr. Sweet also represents financial institutions before the Financial Stability Oversight Council, the Federal Reserve Board, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Treasury Department and other financial regulatory agencies on a wide range of rulings, interpretations and approvals.
Mr. Sweet represented clients on various aspects of federal lending, capital and liquidity support programs, including those established pursuant to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. In addition, Mr. Sweet has advised investors, banks and thrifts on the acquisition of depository institutions and assets from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Mr. Sweet also advises clients on the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act and on strategic transactional and compliance responses to the act.
Mr. Sweet was recognized as one of the "Most Influential Lawyers" in finance and capital markets by The National Law Journal in 2011. He has been selected for inclusion in Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business, Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, The Best Lawyers in America, Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Banking Lawyers and The International Who's Who of Banking Lawyers. He also writes on banking issues and appears frequently at seminars on financial institution mergers and acquisitions, regulatory issues and enforcement matters.