Bank holding companies are carrying an enormous amount of debt and other long term paper, including TARP. We believe this is the highest priority issue in the community banking industry right now, but it has yet to get the attention it deserves. The debt and TARP burdens of community banks encumber the ability of the industry to consolidate and recapitalize. While the credit condition of the operating subsidiary may have stabilized and the bank may no longer be in imminent danger of failure, the holding company debt and TARP burden will limit the company’s strategic options to raise capital or sell. Schiff Hardin has an extensive bankruptcy and creditors’ rights practice nationally. These lawyers combine forces with our financial institution lawyers to solve bank holding company debt and TARP issues. Bankruptcy is always the final option. Before that step, our lawyers are able to restructure bank holding company senior credit facilities with correspondent lenders, have creative (indeed innovative) ways to address TruPS structured through CDOs, and know how to address the many issues presented by TARP. We have all the tools in the toolkit to address a bank holding company’s debt issues and put our clients in a position to execute on their strategic objectives.