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Law360 covered the arrival of Alexandra Steinberg Barrage and Matthew Bornfreund as partners in Morrison Foerster’s Washington,...

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Law360 covered the arrival of Alexandra Steinberg Barrage and Matthew Bornfreund as partners in Morrison Foerster’s Washington, D.C. office. Barrage will co-lead the firm’s Digital Assets practice in the Fintech group. Jeremy Mandell, co-chair of Morrison Foerster’s Financial Services group, stated that Alex and Matt are a "tremendous strategic additions to our team. Alex’s and Matt's significant financial services, bank regulatory, and fintech experience, in both public and private practice, will be invaluable to our clients, particularly those seeking guidance at the intersection of traditional financial services and technology sectors."Read the <a href="https://www.law360.com/articles/2351610" target="_blank">full article</a>.

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Alex, co-lead of the firm's Digital Assets practice within the Fintech Group, advises banks and technology companies on a wide range of regulatory and supervisory matters, including de novo bank charters, enforcement and examination issues, bank-Fintech partnerships, complex claims resolution, resolution planning, and digital asset activities. Her experience includes addressing supervisory examination issues, regulatory due diligence and compliance, bankruptcy, and digital asset product development. With experience serving in senior FDIC roles and an extensive background counseling the largest financial institutions and technology companies in the U.S., Alex offers clients a broad market perspective, practical solutions, and a deep appreciation for the nuances of today’s regulatory landscape.Alex served in various leadership roles at the FDIC. As an associate director, she was the lead regulatory policy expert for the Division of Complex Institution Supervision and Resolution, focusing on U.S. and global regulatory issues affecting the largest and most systemically important banking institutions. She worked closely with Federal Reserve staff on resolution plan rules, related guidance, and feedback letters, and engaged directly with banks and trade associations.Alex is widely respected for her thought leadership, making live appearances on Bloomberg’s The Close and speaking on current banking developments domestically and abroad. She has been quoted extensively, including in American Banker, Bloomberg Law, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, OpenBanker, Law360, Coindesk, and Risk. Alex also provides technical assistance to congressional staff on digital asset legislation.She earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and received her B.A. cum laude from Williams College.<h4>Representative Experience</h4><ul><li>Advise de novo bank charter applicant before U.S. banking regulators </li><li>Advise large/mid-size banks and technology companies in preparation for supervisory examinations, responding to MOUs and public enforcement actions before state and federal banking regulators </li><li>Representation of fifty state bankers associations and DC on amici brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit contesting Colorado’s legislative efforts to opt-out of DIDMCA </li><li>Advise nationwide money transmission/payments company and Fintech providers on regulatory compliance and licensing issues, including issues involving pass-through insurance, brokered deposits, and marketing representations </li><li>Represent banking institutions and technology companies on regulatory and transactional issues involving their banking as a service platform, including deposit account onboarding/enhanced due diligence, third-party risk management issues, and due diligence frameworks involving the sponsorship of merchant acquirer/cryptocurrency exchange programs </li><li>Advise banks on resolution planning requirements under Title I of the Dodd-Frank Act and the FDIC IDI Rule, including related supervisory engagement </li><li>Advised one of the largest global technology cloud service providers opposite federal regulators in their role as a bank service provider </li><li>Advised a leading global payments and enterprise blockchain company on new product launch, bankruptcy issues, and regulatory due diligence</li></ul>

Alexandra Barrage

Partner

As a former attorney in the Legal Division of the Federal Reserve Board, Matthew advises bank and bank holding company clients on matters such as chartering and licensing, capital and liquidity requirements, permissible activities and investments, affiliate transactions, and third-party risk management. He combines deep knowledge of the regulatory environment with operational insights as he counsels Fintechs and payment services providers on a wide range of bank-related compliance issues, including card network rules, ACH network rules, and anti-money laundering requirements. Matthew assists international banks with their entry into the U.S. market, which includes managing the application process with state and federal banking regulators. International banks also look to him for ongoing advice on operational compliance, managing BSA/AML and OFAC/sanctions obligations, and addressing issues under Regulation K and Regulation Y, among others. He facilitates partnerships between financial institutions and Fintechs in areas such as banking as a service (BaaS), creating payments applications, establishing integrated financial products, and more. Matthew has a unique background that includes IT experience, which helps bridge the gap between banks and their third-party service providers, assisting with the development of vendor risk management programs. Matthew earned his J.D. cum laude from the George Washington University Law School. He received his B.A. in international relations and his B.A. in economics from the University of Central Florida.<h4>Representative Experience</h4><ul><li>Provides ongoing advice to a national bank regarding the application of the Volcker Rule to the bank’s investment portfolio </li><li>Advised a state-nonmember bank on the application of Regulation O to an internal program that permitted senior officers to purchase CDs </li><li>Advised a national bank on classification of various platform and program deposits under the FDIC’s brokered deposit rule </li><li>Advised a European bank on applying for a de novo national bank charter </li><li>Advised a financial holding company with a national bank subsidiary on the implications of the Bank Merger Act for the dissolution of a joint venture and the subsequent transfer of assets back to the bank </li><li>Advised a regional state-nonmember bank on regulatory application issues in connection with its acquisition of a bank in another state </li><li>Advised an Asian bank on applying for a representative office </li><li>Advised an Asian bank on the impact of Regulation W on international trade finance and discounting transactions involving both U.S. and non-U.S. affiliates </li><li>Advised a national bank on making permissible investments, including under SBIC and RBIC programs, and on Volcker Rule compliance for various derivative transactions </li><li>Advised multiple banks on structuring new activities and, when necessary, confirming approaches with federal banking agencies </li><li>Advised several Fintech companies in negotiations with sponsor banks for merchant payment processing or payment facilitation </li><li>Advised a large bank participating in an SNC syndicated loan on exceptions to the attribution rule under Regulation W </li><li>Advised a large online lending platform in negotiations with a bank partner to establish a BaaS product </li><li>Advised a payment services provider in responding to state regulatory inquiries </li><li>Assisted a global bank in regulatory compliance review related to moving systems infrastructure to a cloud-based platform </li><li>Assisted a global technology company in preparing for a regulatory examination under the Bank Services Company Act</li></ul>

Matthew (Matt) Bornfreund

Fintech

Financial Services