The Justice Department yesterday announced that it would no longer use its 1995 bank merger guidelines and instead rely on its 2023 merger guidelines to review proposed mergers across all industries, including banks. It also released commentary explaining the application of the 2023 guidelines in banking.
The 2023 guidelines were drafted by the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to describe factors and frameworks the agencies use when reviewing mergers and acquisitions. The decision to withdraw from the 1995 bank merger guidelines came after consultation with the Federal Reserve, FDIC and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the department said. The FDIC and OCC this week advanced new policies for how they will review bank merger applications.
Neither the 2024 banking addendum nor the 2023 guidelines predetermine enforcement action, the Justice Department said. Enforcement decisions “will necessarily depend on the facts in any case and will continue to require prosecutorial discretion and judgment.”
