Sen. Brown: OCC 'must do more' on bank merger review

Bloomberg News

WASHINGTON — Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said in a letter to acting Comptroller Michael Hsu that his agency should update its bank merger review proposal to be more stringent. 

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency earlier this year released a proposal revamping how the agency reviews bank mergers, including nixing a timeout clause on how long the agency can take to review a merger application. While the proposal would allow the OCC to heighten scrutiny on proposals, progressive academics and policymakers have said that it doesn't go far enough. 

Just a short time later, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. released its own statement on bank policy merger transactions that, unlike the OCC version, includes more scrutiny for banks with assets over $100 billion. It's one of the issues that a potential incoming new chair —  should Brown usher through Christy Goldsmith Romero's nomination — would need to finalize in the short time that person leads the agency. 

Brown, in a letter to Hsu, said that mergers involving larger banks should "automatically trigger enhanced scrutiny." He cites Capital One's proposed acquisition of Discover as a prime example, saying that the deal "calls attention to an undefined space" in the OCC's proposal — the treatment of mergers that would create an institution with more than $50 billion in assets.

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"It is imperative that the Policy Statement clarifies that transactions undertaken by large, non-[Global Systemically Important Bank] institutions would also raise supervisory or regulatory concerns," Brown wrote. 

Although Brown said he supports the general direction the OCC is heading with removing the timeout clause, he took a less critical tone in a similar letter to FDIC chair Martin Gruenberg on that agency's bank merger proposal. 

Brown also pressed Hsu on tougher requirements for banks when it comes to reviewing a merger's impact on the surrounding community. His comments are part of a larger push by the Biden administration in antitrust policy to increasingly consider the wider impact of a merger or acquisition on the economy, rather than narrowly considering competition. 

"When it comes to crucial issues like potential job losses and other factors that affect Americans' access to banking services, the OCC must do more than just give these issues some thought," Brown said. "The OCC must only approve mergers where it can identify how a proposed transaction is responsive to the whole of a bank's communities' needs, including those of both its customers and employees." 

The OCC "begins to address these issues," Brown said, but "it must go farther."