Bank mergers and industry resilience

Forty years ago there were over 14,000 independent banks in America. Thirty years ago legal barriers prevented most banks from operating in multiple states. Ten years ago, in the wake of the financial crisis, Congress changed the way large banks could merge or be acquired. Today regulators have begun rethinking what considerations should guide evaluations of bank mergers in light of new competition from financial technology firms and credit unions, the increased consolidation of the industry and lessons learned in the aftermath of the financial crisis, consumer and community needs, and changes in the nature of banking. An important question to regulators in creating a new set of rules for mergers and acquisitions is how resilient are large banks–and the financial system overall–to potential failures?

On Monday, May 9, Aaron Klein, senior fellow in the Center on Regulation and Markets at Brookings, invited remarks from Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu about the need to rethink large bank resolvability and industry resilience. Afterwards a panel of experts continued the conversation.

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