FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 20, 2025

CONTACT: Carter Dougherty, carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org

House Votes to Remove Guardrails Against Megabank Consolidation

Washington, DC – Patrick Woodall, Managing Director for Policy:

Today, the House voted to rubber stamp bank mergers and accelerate the consolidation of the banking industry, harming depositors, small businesses, and communities. The vote is a giant gift to Wall Street banks and corporate monopolists. The resolution to repeal an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) regulatory change that allowed automatic approval of bank mergers—exactly the kind of extra-statutory rule that the administration allegedly wants rescinded.

The OCC’s 2024 rule eliminated two regulatory relics from over 25 years ago: the automatic approval of bank mergers and the expedited review of bank merger applications that allowed the agency to ignore its statutory requirement to consider and review each and every bank merger application.These deeply flawed 1996 regulations rubber-stamped bank mergers and ushered in a merger wave that massively consolidated the banking industry, created too-big-to-fail megabanks, and contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.

The repeal of this rule further threatens the stability of our banking and financial system and leaves families, communities, small businesses, and consumers more vulnerable to increased costs to access banking and financial services.

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