Banking Lawyer David BarisDavid Baris is the president of the American Association of Bank Directors. AABD provides bank directors with the resources to serve their institutions effectively and in a manner that will minimize risk of personal liability. It also represents their interests before federal and state legislative bodies, banking supervisory agencies and judicial bodies.

Under his leadership, AABD has advocated that banking agencies:

  • Provide due process protections during and after examinations, and in enforcement actions
  • Stop the use of its freezing of asset authority by administrative fiat
  • Provide bank directors the right to have access to bank records to defend themselves in enforcement and bank insolvency suits
  • Reduce regulatory burdens on bank directors
  • Clarify that regulatory guidance is not mandatory and that noncompliance with guidance will not be used as a basis to support enforcement actions and a finding of an unsafe or unsound banking practice
  • Take enforcement actions against individual directors only if they have engaged in willful violations of law or regulation or willfully engaged in reckless unsafe or unsound banking practices.
  • Clarify that bank directors who meet their fiduciary duties under applicable state law are not responsible for bad bank financial results.
  • Clarify that bank directors are entitled to delegate many responsibilities to bank management and rely on bank management and others who they reasonably believe can be relied on.

AABD has taken other steps to protect the interests of bank directors, including:

  • Filing amicus briefs in cases where a vital interest of bank directors was at stake
  • Submitting comments on numerous proposed rules that have an impact on bank directors
  • Offering six-hour core courses to bank directors
  • Arranging for discounts on D&O insurance premiums for bank directors who participate in the bank director certification program offered by the Institute of Bank Director Education
  • Lobbying for amendments to banking legislation to serve the interests of bank directors

Mr. Baris was a partner at the Buckley Firm and at Kennedy & Baris, representing over 200 banks, and Counsel to Akin Gump.  He assisted banks in more than 80 bank mergers, more than 50 bank stock offerings, numerous SEC registration and other filings, and helped form more than 30 de novo banks.  He also represented banks on defense of numerous administrative actions, suits filed by the FDIC, and adoption of corporate governance measures.

He previously served as Counsel to the House Government Oversight Committee, Legislative Assistant to a member of Congress, and a director of Mutual of Omaha.

He has authored seven books on banking and bank directors and numerous articles on the subject.

Union Bankshares Corp. $150MM Subordinated Note Offering

March 6, 2017

Buckley Sandler advised the sole book-running manager, Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P., in the $150 million public offering by Union Bankshares Corporation of 5.00% subordinated notes due in 2026. Union Bankshares Corporation, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is the holding company for Union Bank & Trust, which has 114 banking offices and approximately 190 ATMs located […]

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David Baris Discusses Small Banks and Marketplace Lenders in American Banker Article

October 14, 2016

David Baris’ article, “Small Bankers and Marketplace Lenders: Unions in Waiting,” was published in American Banker on October 14, 2016. Click here to read the full article (subscription required).

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Subchapter S Bank Association 19th Annual Conference: Board Matters, Corporate Governance & Shareholder Succession

October 14, 2016

David Baris will speak on the “Board Matters, Corporate Governance & Shareholder Succession” panel at the Subchapter S Bank Association 19th Annual Conference on Friday, October 28, 2016, in San Antonio, TX. Click here to learn more about the event.

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David Baris will speak at WIB’s Fall Bank Director Conference

August 4, 2016

David Baris will speak on “The Director’s Role: Risk Tolerance and Portfolio Management” panel at the WIB’s Fall Bank Director Conference on Friday, November 4, 2016 in San Diego, CA. Click here to learn more about the event.

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New Book by David Baris: Practical Handbook on Fair Lending for Bank Directors and Executive Officers

June 8, 2016

David Baris, Andrea Mitchell, and Lori Sommerfield co-authored the Practical Handbook on Fair Lending for Bank Directors and Executive Officers, published by the American Association of Bank Directors. Although the concept of fair lending has existed since the late 1960s, in recent years the industry has witnessed a dramatic shift in the regulatory landscape for […]

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David Baris Quoted in American Banker Article, “Latest Investor Gripe? Lack of Annual Meeting Webcasts”

May 27, 2016

David Baris was quoted in Kristin Broughton’s American Banker article, “Latest Investor Gripe? Lack of Annual Meeting Webcasts,” on May 27, 2016. Think of webcasts as the C-SPAN of shareholder democracy. Annual meetings are often sleepy affairs, where directors are easily re-elected and compensation packages are approved without a hitch, and many banks don’t broadcast the […]

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David Baris Quoted in Bloomberg BNA Article, “Bank Directors Feel the Squeeze as Tasks, Liabilities Grow”

May 16, 2016

David Baris was quoted in Michael Greene’s Bloomberg BNA article, “Bank Directors Feel the Squeeze as Tasks, Liabilities Grow,” on May 16, 2016. Greater regulatory scrutiny, more oversight responsibilities, and an increase in personal liability exposure are some of the challenges that are making a bank director’s job more difficult, practitioners told Bloomberg BNA. Bank directors have fiduciary […]

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David Baris Quoted in American Banker Article, “Sweetheart Deal or Deal Sweetener”

May 12, 2016

David Baris was quoted in Paul Davis’s American Banker article, “Sweetheart Deal or Deal Sweetener,” on May 11, 2016. Should he stay, or should he go? That’s the question being raised by some shareholders about William Wagner, the chairman and chief executive of Chicopee Bancorp in Massachusetts, which agreed in April to sell itself to in-state […]

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David Baris Quoted in American Banker Article, “Allegations of Insider Trading on Bank’s Board Offer Lesson for All”

April 21, 2016

David Baris was quoted in Paul Davis’ American Banker article, “Allegations of Insider Trading on Bank’s Board Offer Lesson for All,” on April 19, 2016. Despite a slowdown in deal activity this year largely tied to low stock prices – 69 deals had been announced through Monday compared with 82 a year earlier, based on data from S&P […]

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David Baris Speaks on BuckleySandler FinCrimes/AABD Webinar, “What Bank Boards of Directors Need to Know to Oversee BSA/AML Compliance”

April 21, 2016

David Baris will speak on the BuckleySandler FinCrimes/AABD Webinar, “What Bank Boards of Directors Need to Know to Oversee BSA/AML Compliance,” on Thursday, April 21, 2016. BSA/AML issues have grown more important for banks of all sizes as state and federal regulators have increased their enforcement activity surrounding compliance failures. Regulators have increasingly focused their attention […]

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