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Lawyers

Margaret E. Tahyar

Lawyers

Margaret E. Tahyar

Partner
Financial Institutions
New York

Head of Financial Institutions and on Fintech team. Provides strategic bank and financial regulatory advice to banks, financial institutions and tech companies.

Meg is head of our Financial Institutions practice and a member of our Fintech team. She provides strategic bank and financial regulatory advice to clients including many of the largest U.S. and non-U.S. financial institutions, regional banks, fintechs, cryptocurrency exchanges and other digital assets companies.

In 2023, she led the teams representing the Signature and Silicon Valley bridge banks and advised JPMorgan on its acquisition of the assets and liabilities of First Republic. This work built on years of representing more than two dozen clients on living wills.

She has been involved in several regional bank combinations. She also advises on corporate governance, consent order remediation, bank chartering, payment systems, fintech partnerships, bank powers and activities, cryptocurrencies, digital assets, securities disclosure, capital and liquidity and the Federal Reserve’s liquidity programs.

Meg is a member of the FDIC’s Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee. She co-authored Financial Regulation: Law and Policy, a leading textbook, and FinTech Law: The Case Studies.

Experience highlights

  • JPMorgan Chase in its acquisition of the substantial majority of assets and assumption of the deposits and certain other liabilities of First Republic Bank from the FDIC
  • Silicon Valley Bridge Bank on a range of issues relating to its status as a bridge bank and ending with the acquisition of substantially all of its deposits by First Citizens
  • Signature Bridge Bank on the acquisition of substantially all of its deposits by Flagstar Bank
  • Truist on its:
    • $1.95 billion sale of a stake in Truist Insurance to Stone Point Capital
    • proposed $2 billion acquisition of Service Finance
    • sale of BB&T and a portfolio of leases and loans to TCF Capital Solutions
  • First Interstate BancSystem on its $2 billion merger with Great Western Bancorp
  • SouthState on its $542 million merger with Atlantic Capital Bancshares, after advising CenterState Bank on its all-stock merger of equals with South State
  • Truist Ventures as lead investor in the Series A funding of Greenwood, a digital banking platform for Black and Latinx causes and businesses
  • Regions Bank on its acquisition of Sabal Capital Partners
  • Advice to numerous banks and other financial institutions on the government’s COVID-19 support programs
  • Led the teams that produced memos on the Main Street ProgramMain Street Program Legal ArchitectureKey CARES Act Provisions and Fed Programs for CorporatesCARES Act Paycheck Protection ProgramExpansion of SBA Loan Program under the CARES Act, and Economic Stabilization: Congress Passes the CARES Act
  • SLM (Sallie Mae) on its acquisition of Nitro College from Epic Research
  • Several large banking organizations in consent order remediation projects
  • Multiple securities offerings as either issuer or underwriters counsel for banks and nonbank financial companies
  • A large regional bank in connection with its defense in a putative PPP class action
  • BPI and SIFMA in their development of comment letters on the Federal Reserve and FDIC’s multiple proposals to change the regulations around living wills
  • Several fintech companies on strategic approaches, including a national bank charter, an OCC limited purpose charter, and a state industrial bank charter
  • ICICI on all aspects of U.S. securities laws related to its NYSE listing and 144A offerings

In addition to her full-time practice, Meg has taught as an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School and Harvard Law School.

View more experience

Insights

Credentials

Recognition

Euromoney Women in Business Law Americas Awards – “Financial Regulation Lawyer of the Year,” 2022

Chambers USA – Financial Services Regulation: Banking (Compliance), Band 1

Chambers Global – Banking & Finance: Mainly Regulatory, USA, Band 1

Burton Awards for Legal Achievement – “Distinguished Legal Writing Award,” 2009 and 2020

IFLR1000 – Financial Services Regulatory, United States, Market Leader

IFLR1000 – Women Leaders: United States, 2021 and 2022

Expert Guides – Women in Business Law, 2021

Legal 500 U.S. – Financial Services Regulation

National Law Journal – “Outstanding Women Lawyers,” 2015

Law360 – “Banking MVP of the Year,” 2014

Education
J.D., Columbia Law School
  • Valedictorian
  • Articles Editor, Columbia Law Review
A.B., University of Michigan
Clerkships
Law Clerk, Hon. Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court of the United States, 1988-1989
Law Clerk, Hon. Robert H. Bork, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, 1987-1988
Professional history
  • Partner, 1997-present
  • Davis Polk since 1989
  • New York office, 1995-1997 and 2009-present
  • Paris office, 2002-2009
  • London office, 1997-2002
  • Washington DC office, 1989-1995
Qualifications and admissions
  • District of Columbia
  • State of New York
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
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