Hughes Hubbard Reps UBS Securities in Two FINRA Arbitrations

September 2023 - The firm represented UBS Securities, a subsidiary of the Swiss bank UBS, in two Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitrations related to SVB Securities’ raid of UBS’s technology investment banking team.

In the arbitrations – the first of which was filed in August 2021 – UBS asserted a number of claims against both the technology investment bankers and SVB Securities, a subsidiary of SVB Financial Group.

HHR had been litigating before both FINRA arbitration panels for almost two years when regulators announced that Silicon Valley Bank, another subsidiary of SVB Financial Group, was being taken into receivership. Soon after, SVB Financial Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The respondents in the FINRA proceedings sought to postpone the arbitrations in light of the crises at SVB Financial Group and Silicon Valley Bank. The arbitration panels denied the motions to postpone.

SVB Financial Group asked the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, which was overseeing the Chapter 11 proceeding, to enjoin the arbitrations. HHR opposed that application, and subsequently appealed the Bankruptcy Court’s decision to enjoin the arbitrations. However, UBS and the respondents settled the underlying claims before the appeal was heard by the District Court.

Bill Maguire and Carl Mills led the HHR team with assistance from Katie Coleman, Erin Diers, Jeanine Cryan, Jennifer Suh, Sam Dangremond, Talia Helfrick, and paralegal Amy Zhang.