President Joe Biden's top antitrust official has put US banks on notice that laws for mergers in the industry are being scrutinized to ensure consumers have freedom of choice versus the market power wielded by financial institutions
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th June, 2023) President Joe Biden's top antitrust official has put US banks on notice that laws for mergers in the industry are being scrutinized to ensure consumers have freedom of choice versus the market power wielded by financial institutions.
"We are in the process of reorienting the Antitrust Division's role to focus on providing our advisory opinion as required by the statute and not remedies agreements with parties," Jonathan Kanter, assistant attorney general for antitrust, said in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, on Tuesday. "The goal is for this revised procedure to faithfully effectuate the Department's limited � but essential � statutory role in bank antitrust enforcement and facilitate the banking agencies' analysis of competition and other factors."
Quoting President Joe Biden's own thoughts on the matter, Kanter said the president has instructed the Department of Justice and federal banking agencies to revitalize bank merger oversight to "ensure Americans have choices among financial institutions and to guard against excessive market power."
The antitrust official added: "Against this backdrop, it is appropriate for us to reassess whether the prevailing approach to bank merger enforcement is fit for purpose given current market realities."
Those realities include the worst banking crisis to hit the United States in years after the collapse of a couple of regional banks in March following a sudden mass withdrawal of money by depositors fearing a loss of confidence in those institutions.
"The time is indeed ripe for us to re-examine how we assess bank mergers," Kanter said. "Of course, I would be remiss if I did not address the elephant in the room. We are examining bank merger policy against the backdrop of an industry that has experienced some recent turmoil."
Since beginning his term of office in 2021, Biden has made competition a focus of his administration, paying special attention to the banking industry, which the president says needs enhanced competition to protect consumers. To achieve this, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have been mandated to update existing bank merger guidelines.
