Senator Warren Urges Financial Regulators to Promote Greater Competition in Banking, Strengthen Bank Merger Review Guidelines

Press Release

"While your agencies are working to update the guidelines under which you evaluate bank mergers, which were last published in 1995, the recent bank crisis underscores the urgency of strengthening the merger review process and reversing the dangerous trend of bank consolidation.

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"Not a single one of the federal banking agencies have formally denied a bank merger application in over 15 years, while DOJ has not challenged a bank merger in more than 35 years. Meanwhile, the number of commercial banks in the U.S. has fallen by 70% over the past two decades, and the trend is accelerating with $77 billion in bank mergers and acquisitions in 2021 alone -- the "highest yearly deal volume since the 2008 financial crisis.'

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"Allowing additional bank consolidation would be a dereliction of your responsibilities, hurting American consumers and small businesses, betraying President Biden's commitment to promoting competition in the economy, and threatening the stability of the financial system and the economy. Shoring up our banking system will require stronger regulation and more vigorous oversight of big banks to keep them from failing in the first place, and stronger merger guidelines and rules that significantly check consolidation and limit the size and number of too big to fail banks that put taxpayers at risk."

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