The Duane Morris Money and Banking Law Podcast with Joe Silvia

Recently, Duane Morris and Merkle Science held an event at our New York office to discuss policy, market structure issues and expectations for digital assets in 2026. Joe Silvia spoke on a panel about what needs to be in place for crypto currency to gain wider, mainstream adoption, and Mauro Wolfe, lead partner for Duane Morris’ Digital Assets and Blockchain Group, served as MC for the event.

Joe Silvia shares highlights and takeaways from the recent Banking Regulations Under Trump event at the Union League of New York, featuring remarks from current Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould and former Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting.

On this episode, Joe Silvia talks with Terry Mendez, CEO of Safe Harbor Financial and Michael Schwamm, Duane Morris partner in the Corporate and Cannabis practices, about the specific requirements and challenges of providing financial services for the cannabis industry.

In this episode, Joe Silvia speaks with Jon Petrakis, a partner and one of the leaders of Duane Morris' Banking and Finance Practice, about his practice and his advice for creating and building commercial banking relationships.

Jennifer Walker, Director, Sales & Client Relations at ALM First, describes her role and approach as "I'm here to make asset and liability management fun." Beyond helping financial institutions with asset and liability management and ALCO meetings, Jennifer talks about how ALM First strives to partner with banks and "make their lives easier" through deep dives into their balance sheets to find efficiencies and opportunities to strengthen performance. Jennifer believes that "liquidity clarity equals confidence" and the insights ALM First provides is "how we turn community institutions' balance sheet risk into sustainable profitability.".

Joe Silvia talks with Matt Shields, Managing Director, Head of FIG Capital Markets at Performance Trust Capital Partners to understand how financial institutions raise capital. Matt also shares his thoughts and expectations for the capital markets in 2026.

Joe Silvia reviews and analyzes Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman's opening remarks at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta 2026 Banking Outlook Conference: The Next Horizon in Banking on February 19, 2026.

Joe Silvia talks with Duaa Najam about her journey and aspirations as an international attorney from Pakistan pursuing her LL.M. in Banking and Finance Law at Boston University and her master's degree in Technology Law at the University of Edinburgh. In addition to her legal studies, Duaa is interning at The Digital Chamber, the world's leading blockchain trade association. With her education and experience, Duaa hopes to build a global career in banking and finance law focused on fintech regulation, compliance and sustainable innovation.

Joe Silvia takes a closer look at Regulation O, also known as Loans to Executive Officers, Directors, and Principal Shareholders of Member Banks.

As regular attendee of the annual Bank Director Acquire or Be Acquired Conference, Joe Silvia shares his thoughts on highlights and takeaways from this year's conference in Arizona, which had a greater focus on stable coins, fintech and digital assets than in previous years.

Joe Silvia, chair of the ABA Banking Law Committee, shares a recap of the ABA Banking Law Committee Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. on January 15-17, 2026.

Simon Waldbrol, partner with German firm Shalast Law, joins the podcast to share the financial services industry is regulated in Europe.

The December 9, 2025, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Interpretive Letter 1188 clarifies and confirms that national banks can engage in riskless principal crypto asset transactions.

Joe Silvia, a former Federal Reserve Bank lawyer, unpacks the recently released Federal Reserve Board Statement of Supervisory Operating Principles, which will shift priorities to "focus Federal Reserve examiners on material financial risks threatening the safety and soundness of banks and on taking timely, proportionate action to ensure that those risks are properly addressed."

Chris Casey, Duane Morris partner and former Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U. S. Department of Justice, antitrust litigator at the Federal Trade Commission and Assistant U.S. States Attorney, shares his views on the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) and if the DOJ will bring back this powerful antifraud tool to pursue civil actions in the banking industry.

In this episode, Joe and special guest Brian Pandya, Duane Morris partner and former Department of Justice deputy associate attorney general, discuss what the banking industry needs to understand about the DOJ and its priorities under the new administration.

In the recent Crypto Law Summit fireside chat, "Bridging Traditional Banking and Digital Assets: Regulatory Insights and Federal Reserve Perspectives," Joe shared practical insights on how traditional banks can bridge the gap between conventional banking and digital assets in a conversation with Jonathan Schmalfeld, Head of Policy at The Digital Chamber. Listen to the full interview.

In the rapidly evolving financial services industry, banks increasingly rely on third parties for new technologies, tools and processes to stay ahead of the competition. But working with third parties introduces new risks and can increase existing risks for banks, who still have overall responsibility for regulatory compliance for themselves and third-party vendors. Joe outlines the issues and shares insights on how banks can mitigate and manage these third-party risks.

After the firmwide meeting in Boca Raton, Joe Silvia reflects on the value of bringing attorneys together for a weekend to connect in person, share knowledge and opportunities and get to know the people behind the emails and phone calls. The fall and spring meetings are vitally important to fostering the culture of collaboration and collegiality that makes Duane Morris such a wonderful place to practice law and serve clients.

On today's episode, special guest and Duane Morris Special Counsel Veronica Law sits down with Joe to talk about the big picture and the intricacies of commercial and industrial lending.

Joe Silvia reports on the American Bar Association Business Law Fall Meeting in Toronto, which he attended as chair of the Banking Law Committee and member of the Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity and Venture Capital and Consumer Financial Services committees. Not surprisingly, digital assets, blockchain technology and cryptocurrency are still the hottest of hot topics for legal professionals in business law from around the world.

Duane Morris Class Action Defense Group partner Alex Karasik joins Joe Silvia to discuss the wide range of class action risks that financial institutions face, including data privacy breaches, discrimination and harassment claims, wage-and-hour and employee classification and others, with millions and billions of dollars in settlements at stake. Additionally, Alex offers practical and strategic advice to help banks reduce the risk of facing these costly class action lawsuits.

Joe Silvia discusses the fundamentals of the Bank Secrecy Act, money laundering and what banks and financial institutions need for robust anti-money laundering compliance programs.

Joe Silvia explains the basics of the blockchain, how it works, how it's used and the current and potential legal issues it presents.

Joe Silvia explains what's different and special about bank mergers and acquisitions.

The Duane Morris Money and Banking Law podcast with Joe Silvia examines the latest news and events impacting the banking and financial services industries in the United States and globally.

Joe Silvia takes a closer look at the most significant changes for banking regulation that impact crypto, digital assets, bank innovation, M&A and the consumer finance space since the Trump administration returned.

Joe Silvia and Mauro Wolfe discuss the new GENIUS Act, described by the White House as “a historic piece of legislation that will pave the way for the United States to lead the global digital currency revolution