The FDIC board this week reviewed the first round of bank merger applications under a new policy that requires automatic updates of applications that have been outstanding for more than nine months, FDIC Vice Chairman Travis Hill said in a statement.
In June, the board adopted a resolution proposed by Hill to require agency staff to update board members about merger applications that had been outstanding for 270 days, or roughly nine months. At the time, Hill noted that the number of applications still under review after nine months has steadily grown in recent years.
Hill provided an update Thursday on the policy, which took effect this month. He said agency staff briefed the board on three applications during its meeting that same day. He noted the figure was unusual in that the number of applications that have crossed the nine-month threshold usually hovers around 10. The last time the FDIC had only three applications outstanding for more than nine months was October 2021, he said.
“As I noted in June, the primary intent behind the proposal was ‘to motivate faster processing of applications,’” Hill said. “While there is still much work to do on improving the application review process, I appreciate staff’s diligent work over the past few months, and hope the positive trend continues.”
