South Florida Banking Institute Event- Annual Board Installation and Legal Challenges Impacting the Banking Industry

Patricia M. Hernandez is a founding partner of AVILA, serves as the firm’s Managing Partner, and is one of the leaders in the Banking & Financial Services practice, as well as the Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions department.

Ms. Hernandez has decades of experience representing domestic and international banks and other financial institutions, money services businesses and lending companies in all aspects of regulatory, compliance, lending, and transactional matters. She regularly represents clients before the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, and several other regulatory agencies. She often assists banks in negotiating and complying with enforcement actions.

More recently, Ms. Hernandez has been advising banks, financial technology (fintech) companies and regulatory technology (regtech) companies in all aspects of engaging in business together (BaaS, third party risk management, vendor management, etc.) She also represents fintechs and regtechs with licensing requirements and internal risk management matters, as well as government enforcement actions and other regulatory matters.

She also counsels U.S. and foreign clients on the effects of OFAC regulations concerning Venezuela, Cuba, and other sanctioned parties.

Ms. Hernandez has specialized knowledge in lending transactions, including asset-backed, trade-finance, factoring, and SBA financing.

She has exceptional experience in corporate matters, including acquisitions, corporate formation, and review and preparation of contracts for all types of transactions. She regularly counsels foreign businesses who wish to launch their products and services in the U.S.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, and a Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from the University of Miami. Ms. Hernandez currently serves on the Board of the Financial & International Business Association (FIBA), and previously served as its General Counsel. She is also a Board Member and Past President of the South Florida Banking Institute (SFBI), and a member of the Florida Association of Managing Partners. She is fluent in English and Spanish.

PRACTICE AREAS

Lending

Regulatory compliance

Corporate law, mergers & acquisitions

International and cross-border transactions

Gary Reshefsky, Esq. serves as President of Century Risk Advisors which he founded in 2013. Century is one of the fastest growing full service independent insurance agencies in South Florida providing insurance and risk management solutions to middle market corporations throughout the US, as well as the personal insurance needs of successful families and individuals. He also oversees Century’s wholesale insurance venture that distributes insurance capacity to other retail insurance agents and develops proprietary insurance products. Gary has been a tribunalized Lloyd’s of London coverholder with delegated underwriting authority from global insurers.

Prior to co-founding Century, Gary held leadership positions with regional and national insurance brokers. He also served as the Risk Manager of the City of Miami where he oversaw its insurance, employee benefits, and claims expenditures. Gary is a member of the Florida Bar and practiced with the law firm Greenberg Traurig prior to entering the insurance industry. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from The George Washington University, and both a Juris Doctorate and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Miami. Active in the local community, he serves on the City of Coral Gables Insurance Advisory Board, he is Past President of the Miami Children’s Museum, former Audit Chair of the City of Miami Bond Oversight Board, the University of Miami Citizens Board, and the UM Law School Alumni Board of Directors. In 2022 he was recognized as Insurance Agent of the Year by the national publication, Insurance Journal. Gary frequently authors articles on insurance and risk management and speaks at forums and seminars.

Carl Fornaris is a partner at Winston & Strawn with nearly 30 years of legal experience, Carl advises a broad range of financial services firms, including banks and their holding companies, trust companies, money services businesses, payments and FinTech companies, cryptocurrency and other digital assets firms, investment advisers, securities broker dealers, gaming firms, and other financial institutions and institution-affiliated parties, including financial institution officers and directors, on all aspects of their business.

Carl is co-chair of the Financial Services Practice and co-chair of the Digital Assets and Blockchain Technology Group. He represents clients in an extensive range of regulatory, transactional, and administrative enforcement matters, including institution formation and licensing, capital-raising transactions, acquisitions and divestitures, Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) compliance and The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions programs—including the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA)—cryptocurrency regulation, payments and FinTech, Dodd-Frank Act compliance, failed bank receivership and resolution advice, and federal and state agency enforcement proceedings. Throughout his career, he has counseled clients in their dealings with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Reserve Board (FRB), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Florida Office of Financial Regulation (FOFR), New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), and other state supervisory authorities.

In addition, Carl represents lenders and credit parties in financing transactions, particularly credits to non-U.S. loan parties, asset-based credits, acquisition financing, and stand-by letters of credit.

Carl is also a member of the Bank Receivership Task Force, created in March of 2023.

Previously, Carl served as head of legal and compliance for the Latin America region of Barclays Bank PLC, with responsibility for managing legal and compliance matters throughout the region.

Asnardo Garro is a partner in AVILA’s Corporate and Financial Services practice. Mr. Garro focuses his practice in representing financial institutions, financial service companies, money services businesses and corporate clients with respect to complex financing transactions, sale and acquisition matters and other complex business transactions. He has detailed experience in the laws and regulations governing such clients and their transactions.

Mr. Garro represents financial services clients with their financing, corporate, transactional, IT and regulatory matters, including significant and complex financing (asset-based lending, corporate lending, syndicated financing, gap-financing, factoring and trade finance) and acquisition matters. He regularly advises business clients in connection with their asset-backed financing transactions, general corporate and shareholder matters, acquisition, dissolution or sale related matters, IT-related projects, contracts, and other general day-to-day related matters. He also represents corporate clients with their domestic, international and cross-border mergers, joint venture and acquisition transactions.

PRACTICE AREAS

Commercial Financing Transactions

Lending

Corporate, Mergers & Acquisitions Lending

International and Cross-Border Transactions

Financial Services

International Banking

Money Services Business

Kenneth D. Pratt is the Senior Vice President of Governmental Affairs for the Florida Bankers Association, representing the interests of Florida’s banking, trust and wealth management industry in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C.  In his role at FBA, Pratt is responsible for representing the banking industry on insurance matters, including the starting of an insurance task force.  Pratt has also worked on numerous pieces of banking legislation including interest on trust accounts (IOTAs), remote notaries and trustee access to digital assets. 

His political start came as a Legislative Aide in the Florida House of Representatives for an Orlando state representative and continued to serve as a Legislative Advocate with the Florida League of Cities, working on local government economic development issues.  Prior to working in politics, Pratt formally practiced law as a state prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney General and private criminal defense attorney in the Tallahassee and Central Florida areas.    A native of Tallahassee, Pratt has served on numerous state, regional and local board of directors, including the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Tallahassee and the Tallahassee Housing Authority. 

He holds a bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College and a Juris Doctorate from the Florida State University College of Law.