The OCC plans to scrap a long-running practice of allowing some merger applications to be approved automatically after a comment period. The agency is pairing the change with guidance that indicates which transactions can expect to get timely approval, based on things like supervisory ratings, open enforcement actions and other compliance concerns.
“It feels like more of a mirage than an oasis,” BTIG director of policy research Isaac Boltansky said. “There is nothing here that shields bank M&A from the subjectivity and political winds that define the current process.”