William J. Sweet, Jr.

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. 

In the past several years, Mr. Sweet has represented in regulatory matters: 

• Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. and its subsidiary, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, in its $7.8 billion acquisition of Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. and related assets from Citigroup Inc.; 
• Deutsche Bank AG in its acquisition of the Global Agency Securities Lending business of Dresdner Bank AG from Commerzbank AG; 
• John Kanas, the former chief executive officer of North Fork Bank, as part of a management team, and a consortium of private equity firms in the acquisition via an auction of the assets and liabilities of BankUnited, FSB from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation;   
• Pacific Equity Partners (Australia) in its approximately $1 billion leveraged buyout of an 82 percent stake in American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, an independent share registry; 
• a fund sponsored by JLL Partners FCH, LP in its acquisition of a 55 percent stake in FC Holdings, Inc., a bank holding company;
• American Express Company in its sale of American Express Bank Limited to Standard Chartered Bank;
• Citigroup Inc. in its acquisition of Banco Cuscatlán; 
• BlackRock Financial in the acquisition of Merrill Lynch’s asset management arm, Merrill Lynch Investment Management; 
• Société Générale in obtaining approval from the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System to conduct commodities activities; 
• Banco Pactual S.A. in its sale to UBS AG; 
• Northfork Bancorporation in its acquisition of GreenPoint Financial Corporation; 
• SunTrust Banks, Inc. in its acquisition of National Commercial Financial Corporation; 
• Lone Star Funds in its acquisition of Korea Exchange Bank; 
• Citigroup Inc. in its acquisition of Federated Department Stores, Inc.’s and Sears, Roebuck & Co.’s credit card businesses; 
• J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in its acquisition of the global operations of Vastera, Inc. and Bank One Corporation’s corporate trust businesses; 
• U.S. Trust Corporation in its acquisition of State Street Corporation’s private banking business; 
• Citigroup Inc. in its acquisitions of First American Bank, European American Bank, Banamex and Associates First Capital Corp.; 
• Dresdner Bank in its acquisition of Wasserstein Perella; 
• The Chase Manhattan Corporation in its merger with J.P. Morgan & Co.; 
• Charles Schwab in its acquisition of U.S. Trust Corporation; 
• Franklin Resources, Inc. in its acquisition of Fiduciary Trust Company International; 
• The Sumitomo Bank Ltd. in its merger with The Sakura Bank, Ltd.; 
• Travelers Group Inc. in its merger with Citicorp; and 
• Travelers Group Inc. in its acquisition of an interest in Nikko Securities Co. Limited and in the joint venture between Nikko and Salomon Smith Barney.

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, International Financial Law Review 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.

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