Derrick D. Cephas, who most recently led the Financial Institutions Regulatory Practice at Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, has joined Squire Patton Boggs in its New York office.
Previously, Mr. Cephas served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Amalgamated Bank and Superintendent of the New York State Banking Department, a predecessor to the current Department of Financial Services. While New York Superintendent, Mr. Cephas was nationally recognized for his leadership in several areas of bank regulatory reform, including creating and implementing a more hospitable regulatory and supervisory environment for foreign banks to do business in the US and converting mutual thrift institutions to stock form.
“Derrick brings a history of extraordinary achievement in private practice, as a regulator and as a bank executive,” said Jim Barresi, head of the firm’s global Financial Services Practice. “His experience and technical skills will help our existing financial regulatory team continue to provide clients with practical and solution-oriented service.”
Barresi continued, “This is particularly important at a time when clients will need to adapt to potential shifts in the financial regulatory and enforcement landscape as a result of the recent elections.”
Mr. Cephas has broad based experience in representing in regulatory and transactional matters, commercial banks and thrifts and their holding companies, foreign banking corporations, specialty finance, and financial technology companies whose operations are subject, in part, to regulation by US bank regulatory agencies. He also has significant experience in public policy in the financial sector.
Commenting on his move, Mr. Cephas said, “Squire Patton Boggs has an extensive international presence and a team of experienced financial services lawyers that will serve as an excellent platform to support my clients and further business development efforts. I am excited to join this talented global team and play a part in its continued development in New York and elsewhere.”
In 2018, Savoy magazine named Mr. Cephas one of the “Most Influential Black Lawyers” in America. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Dime Savings Bank of New York, Merrill Lynch International Bank and D.E. Shaw & Co. Inc. and is currently a director of New York City-based Signature Bank, where he serves on the Audit (Chair), Credit and Risk Committees, and of the Hartford Family of Mutual Funds.
Apart from his involvement in the financial services industry, Mr. Cephas also has had sustained and significant involvement for many years in many not-for-profit and civic endeavors. He is, or has in the past served as, a director of the Fresh Air Fund, the Trevor Day School, the Empire State Development Corporation, the New York State Public Asset Fund, the New York City Housing Authority (Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Audit Committee), the New York City Board of Correction (Chairman) and the Mayor’s (Bill de Blasio) Fund to Advance New York City. Mr. Cephas also served as a member of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Council on Fiscal and Economic Priorities and on the transition teams of both New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.