The American Bankers Association is urging senators to support a resolution to overturn a 2024 final rule that changed how the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reviews proposed bank mergers.
The OCC last year adopted a rule that ended its practice of automatically approving merger applications on the 15th day after the close of the comment period unless the agency takes action to remove the filing for expedited processing. It also amended how the OCC considers financial stability, financial and managerial resources, future prospects, and convenience and needs factors.
Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) and Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) have introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution in their respective chambers to overturn the rule. In a letter in support of the Senate resolution, ABA said the final rule did not address several concerns outlined by the association in the lead-up to its passage.
“Instead, the OCC created unhelpful new standards that lack transparency and necessary predictability that reflect a degree of bias against mergers,” ABA said. “Among the several flaws, the new rule and policy statement use an arbitrary size factor that is very likely to result in an automatic disapproval of certain mergers.”
ABA also said the rule eliminated a streamlined review process that had been in place for many years for merger applications, and that the OCC criteria ignored detailed criteria for assessing systemic risk already developed by the regulatory agencies.
