Bank Failure & Troubled Institution Resolution Expert Witness
When a bank fails — or is pushed to the brink of failure — the questions that follow are rarely simple. Was the seizure justified? Did regulators follow proper procedure? Could a different resolution strategy have preserved more value for creditors, shareholders, or depositors? These disputes require an expert who has actually sat in the regulator’s seat during a bank failure, not one who has only studied it from the outside.
David D. Gibbons is uniquely positioned to serve as your expert witness in bank failure and troubled institution litigation. As the OCC’s Deputy Comptroller for Special Supervision, he had direct, hands-on authority over the resolution of some of the largest troubled credit card banks in modern banking history — including Providian Financial, Metris, First Consumers, and Household Finance. He personally led what regulators internally described as “loss-free” resolutions, using creative structuring and loss-protection techniques that minimized damage to the deposit insurance fund and other stakeholders. He also had direct oversight responsibility for the OCC’s entire population of 3-rated and worse institutions — the banks regulators consider most likely to fail.
Regulatory Authority That Sets Him Apart
Few expert witnesses can speak to bank failure and resolution with this level of first-hand regulatory authority:
- Directed the supervision and resolution strategy for the OCC’s lowest-rated, most troubled institutions
- Personally briefed the Comptroller of the Currency, the FDIC Chairman, and bank boards of directors on resolution options and risk
- Developed and executed “loss-free” resolution structures for multiple failing credit card banks
- Served as Examiner-in-Charge for major institutions including Fleet Financial Group, Shawmut National Corporation, and Chase Manhattan
- Advanced from the examination function to Deputy Comptroller for Credit Risk, where he identified systemic credit vulnerabilities and briefed Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and Congress
This is not theoretical expertise. It is the record of someone who made the actual resolution decisions that litigation now often turns on.
Litigation & Dispute Areas
David D. Gibbons provides expert testimony, reports, and consulting support on matters including:
Grounds for Seizure and Receivership Whether an institution met the legal and regulatory thresholds for seizure, conservatorship, or receivership, and whether the process followed applicable statutes and agency procedure.
Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) Disputes Whether PCA capital categories, directives, and required actions were properly determined and applied, and whether an institution’s response met regulatory expectations.
Regulatory Capital and Liquidity Insolvency Analysis of capital adequacy, liquidity position, and solvency determinations at the time of a troubled-institution designation or failure.
Resolution Strategy and Loss Mitigation Whether alternative resolution structures existed that could have reduced losses to the FDIC, creditors, shareholders, or other stakeholders — informed by direct experience designing those structures.
Board and Management Conduct During Decline Whether directors and executives responded appropriately to supervisory warnings, downgrades, and enforcement actions in the period leading up to failure.
Safety and Soundness Examination Findings Whether examination findings, ratings, and supervisory conclusions that preceded a failure or enforcement action were reasonable and consistent with regulatory standards and practice.
Who Retains David D. Gibbons
Attorneys representing failed-bank creditors, shareholders, directors and officers, the FDIC as receiver, acquiring institutions, and regulatory counsel engage David D. Gibbons for the same reason: he has made these calls himself, at the federal regulatory level, on institutions of significant size and complexity. That experience translates into expert reports and testimony that withstand scrutiny because they reflect how these decisions are actually made inside a banking regulator — not how they appear from the outside.
Get in Touch
If your case involves a bank failure, troubled institution designation, receivership dispute, or the resolution decisions that followed, David D. Gibbons & Company is available for conflict checks and case evaluation.
Request a Conflict Check & Consultation
- Phone: (847) 707-4279
- Email: info@daviddgibbons.com
- Location: Serving Law Firms & Financial Institutions Nationwide