Ed O’Keefe advises and represents financial institutions. From strategy to tactics and logistics, Ed’s experience includes investigations, litigation, regulatory compliance, governance, cybersecurity, compensation, and risk management. He also advises on law department management, including effective legal engagement with regulators and control functions.

Overview

Ed is the former Global General Counsel of Bank of America Corporation. Having also headed or served as a senior executive with Bank of America's compliance, technology, human resources, and operations functions, Ed’s broad experience includes all aspects of investigations, litigation, regulatory compliance, governance, cybersecurity, compensation, and risk management. His regulatory compliance practice includes working with clients with respect to BSA/AML, anti-bribery/anti-corruption, resolution planning, stress testing, and responding to regulatory inquiries.

Managing significant and complex bank issues, Ed’s experience ranges from supervisory issues to consent orders.  He also understands bank operations, including emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, on which he has addressed at international and national industry conferences. As the chair of the Clearing House Association, the industry association of the largest banks, Ed supported and approved the creation of the Real Time Payments system. 

Ed has represented financial institutions before the U.S. Congress and the U.K. financial regulatory authorities, global agencies and courts, as well as the Federal Reserve, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and multiple state attorneys general. 

Ed is recognized for his legal and public service, including his service on the Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Advisory Board, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy Center, Board Chair of the United Way of Central Carolinas, and President of Council for Children’s Rights Board. Ed is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and also serves on the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s North Carolina Advisory Committee, and has served on the Best Lawyers’ Board of Advisors. He regularly speaks and publishes on bank regulatory issues, cybersecurity, and legal risk management. He is a co-author of the Regulatory Investigative Chapter in the treatise, Successful Partnering Between Inside and Outside Counsel, published by Thomson Reuters and the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Representative Experience

  • Advised a global bank on enterprise regulatory issues
  • Advised Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs) on their resolution plans required under Section 165d of the Dodd Frank Act
  • Advised national banks on their submissions required under the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review
  • Advised a major financial advisory firm on the applicable requirements of the Dodd Frank Act
  • Advised a startup fintech enterprise on applicable bank regulatory obligations
  • Advised multiple financial institutions on their risk and compliance programs
  • Advised global financial institutions on responding to cross-border regulatory inquiries
  • Advised an international lender on complex securities backed loan restructure
  • Advised a national mortgage lender on consumer compliance
  • Advised a global bank on obligations under E.U. General Data Protection Regulation
  • Advised a major regional financial clients on board governance
  • Advised a G-SIB on UDAAP enforcement response

Notable

Notable

  • Chambers USA - Nationwide, Financial Services Regulation: Banking (Compliance), 2019-present
  • Chambers USA - North Carolina, Banking & Finance: Mainly Regulatory, 2022-present 
  • Best Lawyers in America, Banking and Finance Law, 2021-2024; Administrative / Regulatory Law, 2023-2024
  • North Carolina Lawyers Weekly 2024 Leaders in the Law List
  • Wells Fargo Legal Department’s 2022 Outside Counsel Diversity Award
  • Top Rated Lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell for 15 years
  • Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation
  • Law360 Innovative Law Department Award for the Bank of America Legal Department
  • Thurgood Marshall College Fund Award of Excellence
  • North Carolina Super Lawyers
  • Business North Carolina Legal Elite
  • North Carolina Pro Bono Honor Society, 2021-2022
  • American Corporate Counsel Association Pro Bono Award
  • Association of Fundraising Professionals Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year Award, 2015
Leadership
  • Co-chair, Moore & Van Allen Public Service Committee 
  • Law360 North Carolina Editorial Board, 2023
  • Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy Board of Directors, 2019-present
  • UNC Center for Banking and Finance Board of Advisors – Member, Steering Committee, 2015-present
  • Executive Search Committee Member for United Way, Council For Children’s Rights and Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy
  • Carolina Directors Exchange Committee, 2020, 2021
  • Greater Charlotte Go Red for Women Executive Leadership Team, 2019, 2020
  • Financial Markets Association Planning Committee, 2019
  • U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) North Carolina Advisory Committee, 2015-2017
  • United Way Board of Directors, 2010-2017
  • Board Chair, United Way of Central Carolinas, 2015-2016
  • Board President, Council for Children’s Rights, 2014-2015
  • Fordham Advisory Board to Compliance Programs
  • Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Advisory Board
  • Best Lawyers’ Board of Advisors
  • UNC Center for Banking and Finance Board of Advisors
  • Mecklenburg County Bar Diversity and Inclusion Committee Board of Advisors
  • Steering Committee Co-chair, General Counsel Leadership Network, 2011-2015
  • Chair, Vice-chair, The Clearing House Association, 2011-2012

News

News

Recognitions

Media

Speaking Engagements

Publications

Blogs and Resources

Alerts

Blog Posts

Affiliations

Affiliations

  • Life Fellow, American Bar Foundation
  • American Bar Association
  • North Carolina Bar Association
  • New York State Bar Association
  • New Jersey Bar Association
  • Mecklenburg County Bar Association

Publications

Publications

Speaking Engagements

Speaking Engagements

Representative Seminars
  • Panel Presentation: SIFMA C&L Annual Seminar, "Intersection of Banking & Wealth Management", March 2019
  • Panel Presentation: SIFMA C&L Society Charlotte Regional Seminar, "Intersection of Banking & Wealth Management", September 2018
  • Speaker: Duke University School of Law, "Regulation of Foreign Banking Organizations", March 2018
  • Co-coordinator: UNC School of Law 2018 Banking Institute, "LIBOR and the Potential Replacement Reference Rates: Where Do We Go from Here?", March 2018
  • Speaker: TMA SE Regional Conference & Capital Mall, "Regulatory Effect on Lending Environment", June 2017
  • Panel Presentation: Bank Regulation and Lending, Where to Now?, April 2017
  • Panel Presentation: The Emerging Role of the General Counsel, April 2017
  • Panel Presentation: The Ethical Implications of Dealing with Regulators, March 2017
  • Presentation: The Rise of FinTechs and Their Impact on the Financial Industry, January 2017
  • Panel Presentation: Managing Law Firm Pricing, Profitability, and Compensation, Predictability: "Giving Clients ‎What They Want", September 2016
  • Moderator: Vantage Executive Summit, "Big Picture Issues: Legal Community Collaboration - Risks and Opportunities", May 2016
  • Panel Presentation: Bank of America 5th Annual Litigation Roundtable Summit, May 2016
  • Moderator: UNC School of Law Banking Institute, “Bank Conduct, Culture and Governance”, March 2016
  • Panel Presentation: The Knowledge Group, “Effective Data Security Management: Keeping Your Data Protected in the Cloud”, March 2016
  • Panel Presentation: 2nd Annual Disruption in the Delivery of Legal Services: Evolution and Revolution?, “New Paths for Law Firms – Law Firm Leaders Panel”, February 2016

Education

J.D., Fordham University School of Law

B.A., University of Rhode Island, cum laude

Admissions

  • North Carolina, 2008
  • New York, 1982
  • New Jersey, 1981
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“Ed O'Keefe has decades of experience in the financial regulatory space. He is a strong communicator.” - Chambers, 2023

Chambers USA - Nationwide, Financial Services Regulation: Banking (Compliance), 2019-2023, North Carolina, Banking & Finance: Mainly Regulatory, 2022-2023

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