Our extensive network includes top experts from academia and industry.
Our extensive network includes top experts from academia and industry.
Victor Stango
Professor, Graduate School of Management,
University of California, Davis
Victor Stango has been a leading expert in banking, household finance, and behavioral economics for more than twenty years. Professor Stango has served as an expert witness in numerous matters involving bank fees, credit card pricing and disclosures, insurance, and credit reporting, among other areas.
Much of Professor Stango’s expert work examines consumers’ usage and understanding of financial and nonfinancial products, including how they may interpret disclosures associated with those products. Professor Stango has testified in deposition and at trial.
In his academic research, Professor Stango examines how consumers make short- and long-run financial decisions; learn about and use financial products and services; and interpret financial disclosures and information provided to them by banks and other institutions. He also analyzes issues related to credit reporting, data breach, and data privacy.
Professor Stango was formerly a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago and New York. His research and opinions have been featured in major news outlets and leading academic journals, including the American Economic Review, the Journal of Finance, and the Review of Financial Studies. He has been recognized for outstanding teaching at UC Davis.
Our extensive network includes top experts from academia and industry.
Ronald T. Wilcox
NewMarket Corporation Professor of Business Administration,
Darden School of Business,
University of Virginia
Ronald Wilcox is an expert in marketing research, marketing analytics, customer relationship management, marketing of financial services, and branding. His litigation experience includes analysis of class certification and damages issues, as well as conducting and rebutting consumer surveys, including conjoint surveys. Professor Wilcox has also provided trial testimony related to branding.
Professor Wilcox formerly served as an economist at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He was also an assistant professor at the Carnegie Mellon Graduate School of Industrial Administration. Professor Wilcox has consulted to numerous companies, including Sikorsky, Johnson & Johnson, and Visa.
Professor Wilcox’s research has appeared in the Journal of Marketing Research, Management Science, Marketing Science, and other leading marketing and finance journals. His findings have been cited in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and Businessweek.
He is a frequent contributor to Forbes and the author of the book Whatever Happened to Thrift? Why Americans Don’t Save and What to Do about It, published by Yale University Press and listed among the Top Five Business Books of 2008 by Kiplinger. Professor Wilcox also coauthored the book Cutting-Edge Marketing Analytics: Real World Cases and Data Sets for Hands On Learning, on the use of customer data to improve marketing decisions, published by FT Press.
Our extensive network includes top experts from academia and industry.
Mark J. Garmaise
Professor of Finance,
UCLA Anderson School of Management,
University of California, Los Angeles
Mark Garmaise is a corporate finance expert who specializes in topics related to banking, entrepreneurship, financial contracting, real estate, and securities. Professor Garmaise has testified in high-profile cases involving breach of contract, valuation, and damages. In Rule 10b-5 securities class actions and related opt-out matters, he has provided expert testimony on class certification and merits issues, including market efficiency, price impact, loss causation, and damages.
His industry experience includes FinTech, cryptocurrency, entertainment, financial services, investment banking, automotive, and microfinance. Professor Garmaise has also consulted with a U.S. bank on refining its residential mortgage delinquency model.
Professor Garmaise analyzes a range of complex issues affecting real estate markets, entrepreneurial firms, venture capital, and private equity. He has published papers on mortgage terms, the performance of small business lenders, and the effects of financial constraints on entrepreneurs. His research has appeared in peer-reviewed publications such as the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Finance, and the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
An award-winning instructor with more than two decades of experience, Professor Garmaise teaches MBA and executive courses on corporate finance, venture capital, and private equity (including investment strategies such as the use of special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs). He is a former senior associate dean of the MBA program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Previously, Professor Garmaise served on the faculty of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Consumer Finance Capabilities
When consumer finance firms come under scrutiny from the CFPB or other agencies, they turn to Cornerstone Research staff and experts to respond to such regulatory investigations. We have assisted in responding to allegations of unfair, deceptive, and/or abusive practices (UDAAP) in violation of various U.S. statutes.
- Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA)
- Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
- Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)
- Right to Financial Privacy Act (RFPA)
- Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act (TCFAPA)
- Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
- Truth in Lending Act (TLA)
We work with some of the largest providers of consumer finance products in matters involving mortgage and appraisal services, credit card products, student loans, subprime and other loans, credit reporting practices, and collection practices. For client matters that involve issues of customer understanding and expectations, our experts and staff use sophisticated tools of economic analysis to model consumer behavior.
We address pricing, competition, securitization, and business models in the credit card industry. Our staff and affiliated experts have estimated potential damages for banks facing class actions alleging improper overdraft fees on debit cards. Representative matters include:
- Addressed pricing, competition, securitization, and business models in the credit card industry
- Analyzed consumer behavior and repayment expectations for a major credit card issuer that changed agreement terms, and assessed the pertinent regulatory and economic factors
- Estimated potential damages for banks facing class actions alleging improper overdraft fees on debit cards
Representative matters include:
- Reviewed loan term disclosures and analyzed subsequent consumer behavior to assess customer comprehension of the disclosures
- Evaluated the economics of, and capital flows within, the student loan industry
Representative matters include:
- Investigated claims that appraisals were inflated as a result of an alleged conspiratorial agreement between a lender and an appraisal management firm.
- Analyzed consumer behavior to assess if borrowers suffered economic harm as a result of Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) enrollment
Cornerstone Research provides consulting expertise and supports testifying experts across a wide spectrum of timely and relevant FinTech issues.
- Cryptocurrency Market Microstructure
- Cryptotoken Economics
- Damages and Token Valuation
- Blockchain Technology
- Consumer Financial Services
Representative matters include:
- Evaluated how existing consumer finance regulation applies to new platforms and how borrowers interact with developing technology for loan products
- Analyzed financial “robo-advisors” and how automated investment strategies perform relative to alternative portfolios under different risk-return scenarios
Featured Cases
Selected Professionals
Our staff consultants contribute expertise in economics, finance, accounting, and marketing, as well as business acumen, familiarity with the litigation process, and a commitment to provide outstanding support.
Featured Publications
How can we help you?
For more information or assistance with a specific matter, please contact us.
