President Donald Trump signed a measure Friday overturning an 2024 Office of the Comptroller of the Currency rule that would have banned expedited bank merger reviews.
The Senate and House each voted last month to approve resolutions to nullify the rule through the Congressional Review Act.
The move marks at least the second final rule from Biden-era banking regulators revoked by Trump through the CRA.
Trump signed a resolution in May to overturn a 2024 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that would have capped, at $5, the overdraft fee that banks and credit unions with more than $10 billion in assets could charge.
The American Bankers Association noted the reversal in a Monday post on social media site X, calling the OCC merger rule “flawed.”
“We urge regulators to establish a new framework that promotes competition and reflects today's financial services landscape,” the trade group wrote in its statement.
Rep. French Hill, R-AR, also thanked Trump in a statement Saturday, citing the “burdensome standards” the OCC rule imposed on bank mergers.
“Small banks depend on mergers to grow, innovate and better serve their communities,” said Hill, the chair of the House Financial Services Committee. “This resolution restores competition, consumer choice and a more balanced regulatory approach.”
The OCC rule itself was a rollback of a 1996 policy that deems bank deals as approved on the 15th day after the end of a comment period unless the regulator removes the filing from expedited processing.
Michael Hsu, the OCC’s acting chief until February, said the rule aimed to increase transparency in the merger evaluation process and strike a balance between two risks inherent in bank deals.
“One risk is that we approve too many mergers and therefore we’re approving bad mergers. The other risk is we approve too few mergers and therefore there are good mergers that should happen that aren’t,” Hsu said last year. “The purpose of being transparent is to encourage more accuracy on both ends.”
The 2024 rule put greater focus on the OCC’s effort to weigh the financial stability risk of approving a deal against the risk of denying it, especially if the transaction involves a troubled institution.
But Republican lawmakers argued the regulator was reaching beyond its mandate.
“The Biden administration’s OCC injected politics into the merger process, discouraging responsible growth,” Rep. Andy Barr, R-KY, said in April, while introducing the resolution to nullify the rule. “By allowing banks to realize economies of scale and pass cost savings on to consumers, these acquisitions result in better rates, lower fees, and expanded access to credit — especially in underserved communities.”
