Our Banking and Financial Services practice group provides a full range of services to financial institutions and other lenders. Clients include national and state banks, investment banks, private institutional and asset managers and governmental entities.

Services offered include lending work, bank operations, regulatory and compliance issues, workouts, litigation and bankruptcy.

Our practice includes commercial credit facilities, real estate term lending and construction lending, other asset-based lending, letter-of-credit transactions, loan participations, SBA loans, equipment leases and consumer loans. Working with others in the firm, attorneys in this group provide transactional and litigation services regarding secondary mortgage market transactions, taxable and tax-exempt bond financing, and the packaging, securitization and sale of loan pools.

Leonard, Street and Deinard has lobbied on behalf of the Minnesota Bankers Association and others. The firm is a service member or associate member of several industry trade groups, including the Minnesota Bankers Association, the Mortgage Bankers Association of Minnesota and the American Bankers Association.

Leonard, Street and Deinard advises clients on banking and financial services matters, including:

Commercial Real Estate Finance

We represent major banks in complex commercial real estate loan transactions, including revolving lines of credit and affordable housing projects, assisting in all areas of due diligence and loan documentation. We have assisted lenders in structuring loans to save significant mortgage registry taxes and fees for borrowers.

Construction Lending

We have extensive experience in construction lending. We represented a regional bank acting as construction lender for a $25 million residential condominium and retail development that included tax increment financing and other assistance from a suburban municipality; we represented a major national bank as construction lender for a $20 million multifamily housing development that was also financed with federal low-income housing tax credits and assistance from an urban municipality; and we represented regional construction lenders for residential and commercial mixed-use development, condominium conversions and office/warehouse projects. The loans exceeded $200 million annually.

Asset-Based Lending

We represented an investment firm in connection with a $25 million credit facility secured by credit card receivables. We also represented an investment firm in connection with a $25 million credit facility secured by delinquent commercial vehicle and vessel loans, as well as an investment firm in connection with a series of $10 million credit facilities secured by computer equipment leases.

Residential Mortgage Lending

Our attorneys represent residential mortgage lenders in obtaining state lending licenses throughout the country and represent numerous mortgage lenders in complying with the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, including the establishment of joint ventures.

Deposit Accounts

We have represented a multistate national bank in preparing all standard documentation for all types of deposit accounts and have represented several banks and credit unions in dealing with check fraud.

Regulatory Issues

Our firm has represented several financial institutions in negotiating with and responding to enforcement actions from federal and state regulatory agencies, including the Minnesota Department of Commerce, the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, the National Credit Union Administration, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). We also regularly advise clients with regard to Federal Reserve Board and HUD regulatory compliance.

Consumer Credit

We regularly represent lenders in developing loan forms for consumer credit transactions and assist state regulators in developing programs for clients that comply with state laws.

Nationwide Lending

Our attorneys represented a client in connection with a multistate loan program that closed hundreds of commercial real estate loan transactions in more than 20 states. The aggregate amount of the loans was in excess of a billion dollars and involved a variety of property types and loan structures, including mezzanine and participating loans.

Local Counsel Legal Opinions

We acted as local counsel for a major national bank in a multistate loan transaction, issuing a comprehensive enforceability opinion on an expedited basis. We transformed a restricted mortgage into a true multistate mortgage, meeting the strict requirements of Minnesota law related to addressing significant mortgage registry tax issues.