Top Justice Department antitrust lawyers are weighing a revamp of how they scrutinize bank mergers, complicating further consolidation for an industry that’s facing some of its biggest challenges since the financial crisis.
“Bank competition is essential,” Kanter said. The Justice Department “is modernizing its approach to investigating and reporting on the full range of competitive factors involved in a bank merger to ensure that we are taking into account today’s market realities and the many dimensions of competition in the modern banking sector.”