Banking Law is regulated by both state and federal statutory law. Bank accounts may be established by national and state chartered banks and savings associations. All are regulated by the law under which they were established.
As we all know, banks are in the money business; they accept our deposits, invest them in a wide range of financial products (for example, by making loans) and make both themselves and us a profit in the process.
Every one of these banking activities is legally documented. For example, when you opened your bank account you will have signed a standard set of terms of conditions setting out both your and your bank’s rights and obligations. Of course, you will not have had the ability to negotiate any of the terms of this contract, although they will have been scrutinised by a banking lawyer beforehand.
In contrast, take the example of a large multinational corporation needing to access hundreds of millions of pounds in debt to carry out a major takeover. That corporation would need to approach one or more international investment or commercial banks to arrange and underwrite the debt and would need to grant (or ensure that its subsidiaries grant) guarantees and asset security in favour of the banks.
The commercial terms of the deal will be negotiated between the banks and the borrower, and it is the task of the banking lawyers to document what has been agreed between the parties and ensure documents work from a legal perspective.
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