Robert L. Tortoriello is a partner of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP based in the New York office.
Mr. Tortoriello's practice focuses on domestic and foreign bank expansion into all types of non-bank services and securities-related businesses, and on cross-border transactions and initiatives. It includes extensive counseling with respect to bank capital markets activities, regulatory and compliance issues, internal investigation and enforcement matters, financial institution mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic alliances and restructurings, private equity and derivative product transactions, and domestic and international securities offerings. A significant portion of Mr. Tortoriello's practice is devoted to advice concerning the Dodd-Frank Act (including the Volcker Rule), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Bank Holding Company Act, the Glass-Steagall Act and the International Banking Act, including in the context of matters involving the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and other federal and state banking regulators.
Mr. Tortoriello was distinguished as a "star performer" in
Chambers USA and was ranked in the top tier of leading individuals in financial services regulation by
Chambers Global. Best Lawyers chose to include Mr. Tortoriello in its 2012 edition of
The Best Lawyers in America, making him one of a small distinguished group to receive this honor for at least 10 consecutive years, and also selected him as the "2011 New York Banking Lawyer of the Year." Mr. Tortoriello was recognized as one of the ten "most highly regarded" banking lawyers in the world by
The International Who's Who of Banking Lawyers.
The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers, Legal Media Group's
The Guide to the World’s Leading Banking Lawyers,
The Best of the Best,
The Legal 500 U.S., Euromoney's
Expert Guides and
IFLR1000: The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms cite Mr. Tortoriello as one of the best financial institutions lawyers in the United States.
Mr. Tortoriello lectures and is widely published on bank acquisitions, securities-related activities and bank regulatory developments. He is the author or a co-author of
Guide to Bank Underwriting, Dealing and Brokerage Activities (Thomson West, 2012), now in its seventeenth edition and widely recognized as the leading treatise in the area; "Operational Risk Management in Global Banking Organizations - A Legal and Compliance Perspective" (
The International Who's Who of Banking Lawyers, 2008); "FERC Regulation of Banks Proposing to Qualify as Power Marketers" (
Banking Report, 2007); "Banks' Securities Activities in the U.S." (
The IFLR Banking Guide, 2006); "The Federal Reserve Board’s Proposed Interpretation of the Anti-tying Provisions of the Bank Holding Company Act Amendments of 1970" (
Banking Law Journal, 2003); "Financial Modernization in the United States: the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act" (
Journal of International Financial Markets, 2000); and "Basel Proposal for a New Capital Adequacy Framework" (
Banking Policy Report, 2000). In addition, he has contributed to numerous other professional and scholarly texts and publications, including the
University of Illinois Law Review, the
Connecticut Journal of International Law, the
Banking Expansion Reporter,
Insights, the
Review of Financial Services Regulation and other journals.
Mr. Tortoriello advises some of the largest and most sophisticated global financial institutions, U.S. and non-U.S., in their business and operational planning efforts with respect to their investment, trading, dealing, hedge fund, commodities and private equity fund businesses. Mr. Tortoriello's recent matters include representing Bank of America, Credit Suisse, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase and other institutions with respect to their private equity/hedge fund and asset management investment operations; Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse and others in the expansion and conduct of energy-, electricity-, emission- and commodity-related derivatives, trading energy/asset management, subchartering and related activities; Barclays Bank, Citibank, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Natixis and others with respect to equity-linked and other structured deposit and note offerings; and ABN AMRO, BBVA, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, ING, Wells Fargo and others in connection with the organization, expansion and operation of their capital markets activities in the United States. In addition, Mr. Tortoriello acts as counsel to the Institute of International Bankers.
Mr. Tortoriello has also provided advice on numerous acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, strategic alliances and restructurings. Among the recent transactions in which Mr. Tortoriello was involved are: the acquisition of Dexia Bank's Belgian (and certain U.S.) operations by the Kingdom of Belgium's Société Fédérale de Participations et d'Investissements (SFPI); Credit Suisse’s investment in, and distribution arrangements with, York Capital Management; BNP Paribas' acquisition of control of Fortis Bank (including the coincident investment by SFPI in BNP Paribas and the reorganization and restructuring of Fortis Bank's U.S. operations); numerous Bank of America domestic and foreign, banking and non-banking, acquisition and disposition transactions (including those involving Ameriprise/Columbia Management, Banco Itau, BlackRock, China Construction Bank and Merrill Lynch); and coordination of "shelf charter" and private equity-related initiatives relating to the infusion of new capital into the U.S. banking system.
Mr. Tortoriello is actively involved in a number of internal investigations for domestic and foreign financial institutions, as well as in administrative, regulatory and related enforcement proceedings. He also counsels major financial institutions with respect to Congressional inquiries related to a range of banking practices, and with respect to non-public regulatory investigations by the banking regulators, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and federal and state enforcement agencies regarding compliance with anti-money laundering requirements and other U.S. banking laws, and U.S. sanctions programs. In addition, Mr. Tortoriello is advising BNP Paribas, HSBC and others with respect to the implications of various banking-related exposures (as principal, lender, investor, derivatives counterparty, custodian and private banker) in connection with the Bernard Madoff "Ponzi scheme" and the bankruptcy of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities (BLMIS).
Mr. Tortoriello has served as a member of the New York City Financial Services Advisory Committee, created to monitor and discuss developments within the financial services industry (including regulatory issues) and track the ongoing value and effectiveness of initiatives set out by Mayor Bloomberg to promote the support and growth of New York’s financial services sector. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (where he sits on the Banking Law Committee).
Mr. Tortoriello joined the Firm in 1974 and became a partner in 1982. He received a J.D. degree,
magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1974 and an undergraduate degree,
summa cum laude, from St. Peter’s College, New Jersey in 1971.
Mr. Tortoriello is a member of the Bars in New York and New Jersey, and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the District of New Jersey.