Episode 476: Bank Mergers in the Garden of Good and Evil

Breaking Banks

In this Episode: As the costs of meeting customer expectations and competitive pressures continue to rise, more banks are considering mergers and acquisitions to gain scale and stay relevant, but there are deep structural regulatory constraints that can often be an impediment. Everything from the way geographic boundaries are defined, to the way competition is measured to the way products and services are evaluated have mid-twentieth century origins that don’t seem well-suited for today’s financial services landscape. As we lead up to Bank Director’s Acquire or Be Acquired (AOBA) conference, Kiah Haslett, Managing Editor for Bank Director magazine, joins us to walk through some of the increasingly outdated modes of analysis, some of the ways regulators are planning updates, and what “good” and “bad” mergers look like. We also debate whether it’s all enough to achieve the stated goals of maintaining competitive markets for the good of the public, and Kiah draws on her experience as a soccer referee to show a few yellow cards to the industry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTAPar8eNZo