What Types of Regulations are There for Bank Mergers?
You may be wondering why bank mergers need to be regulated in the first place. There is a great concern among state and federal governments that too many banks merging together could lead to a decrease in competition and the domination of the market by one bank for which it could fix all prices and rates and decide who gets what loans and which services. The Bank Merger Act prohibits any merger that would have the affect of lessening competition among banks to such an extent that there could be price and rate fixing especially in the instance of a total monopoly by a bank in a certain area. There are different bank regulatory agencies that monitor and regulate mergers between banks based on what the affect on competition will be. Which regulatory agency is monitoring the bank depends upon what kind of bank it is: • The Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) monitors national banks • The Federal Reserves Board regulates state member banks and holding company transactions • The Fede
