Agenda

Wednesday, March 25

Registered attendees for The ABCs of Banking Law and the Banking Institute will receive an invitation with more details from Kane Russell.

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Thursday, March 26

As digital-asset activity accelerates across the financial services industry—including, trading, custody, and securities tokenization—banks must adapt their legacy BSA/AML compliance programs to a new set of risks. This panel will explore how banks should evaluate and apply their BSA/AML and sanctions controls to address crypto-related risks. The panelists will also examine how AI and innovative technologies can supplement traditional risk controls, helping banks maintain effective compliance frameworks.

Hope Mehlman serves as Ally’s Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer and as the company’s Corporate Secretary. Before joining Ally, Mehlman was Discover Financial Services’ Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary.  Earlier, she served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Bank of the West, and in various roles at BNP Paribas USA and Regions Financial.  Prior to Regions, Mehlman was a Partner at Adams and Reese LLP.

Banking regulation and the regulators who lead it are undergoing transformational change. From agency revisions to elemental regulatory rules, rulemaking and supervisory guidance to judicial reinterpretation of long-standing precedent, the industry faces a rapidly changing environment. The changes are occurring amid rapid technological developments, leading to the expansion of products and services and the types of entities that offer them. After reviewing key changes, the panel will address both strategic and tactical actions that the industry and its practitioners should consider to manage and thrive in this new world.

This panel will explore the many different types of innovative bank charters of all business types that have been applied for or conditionally approved, including those stakeholders supporting the innovation and those stakeholders raising concerns about them.  The panel will also discuss master accounts and skinny or payments accounts as they relate to such charters.

The Center for Banking and Finance will present Ed O’Keefe with the Center’s Leadership Award. O’Keefe is the Co-head of Moore & Van Allen’s Financial Regulatory Advice & Response Group. He previously served as Global General Counsel for Bank of America. O’Keefe has been a long-time member and de facto leader of the Center’s Board of Advisors.

The opportunity to mix and mingle with the participants, including the program speakers and the law students who produced the North Carolina Banking Institute journal is always a highlight of the Banking Institute.

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Friday, March 27

With the change in Administration and given perceived pent-up demand over the past several years, industry observers expect a resurgence of M&A activity over the next several years from both traditional and non-traditional players. Public statements by the leadership at each of the federal banking agencies suggest that they are open for business and are working to streamline the application review process. This panel will look at the first year of the Trump Administration with respect to M&A and what to expect moving forward.

Aaron Klein is Miriam K. Carliner Chair and senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution. Prior to joining Brookings in 2016, he directed the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Financial Regulatory Reform Initiative. Klein has also served as the deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Department of Treasury, and chief economist of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

In the Beischer Challenge, George and Susan Beischer agreed to match up to $1 million of gifts and pledges to the Center for Banking and Finance. The gift was completed in 2011. In honor of this transformative gift to the Center, its board of advisors voted to name the featured speaker presentation at the annual Banking Institute in honor of the Beischers. We are pleased that the Beischer Address is an annual opportunity to honor the memory of George and Susan and remember their generosity.

New legislation, including the GENIUS Act, is bringing regulatory clarity to digital assets and ushering change in the banking sector, including with respect to tokenized deposits, custody, remittances, and lending with Bitcoin as collateral.  What types of changes?  Attend this panel to find out.

Rohit Chopra served as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from 2021 until February 2025. Previously, he served as Commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission from 2018 to 2021. Chopra currently serves as an adviser to state attorneys general on consumer protection, antitrust, and affordability.

The Clifford Distinguished Lecture on Consumer Law was established by the UNC School of Law and friends following Professor Clifford’s death. Donald Clifford was the Aubrey L. Brooks Professor and served as a faculty member of Carolina Law from 1964 to 2004, specializing in commercial and consumer law.  He founded the law school’s very successful Festival of Legal Learning and served as a member of the Board of Advisors for the Center for Banking and Finance.