Sector performance
In the financial institutions sector, while 2020 saw reduced aggregate deal volumes and values when compared to 2019, slower activity in early 2020 was replaced with much stronger deal flow in Q4.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges, but several themes managed to accelerate dealmaking in the sector. The capital strength of banks proved to be resilient and deal activity continued in the digitalization and FinTech spaces. Ongoing trends of interest margin squeeze and cost control propelled transactions focused on cost rationalization, growing deposit bases, and in-market consolidation rather than cross-border expansion.
Hogan Lovells activities
Our Financial Institutions industry sector released our annual Hogan Lovells FIS Horizons publication addressing key developments, including the implication of UK sanctions legislation in a post-Brexit environment, the avalanche of sustainable finance legislation from governments, and the steps that financial institutions should be taking to ensure an orderly LIBOR transition by the end of 2021.
We designed a Global Guide to Electronic Signatures, and, as COVID-19 accelerated change, we created an interactive comparative guide on global governmental and regulatory responses to the pandemic on issues including capital reliefs, monetary policy, insolvency, and more.