[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 194 (Thursday, December 5, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1545]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        INTRODUCTION OF THE BANK MERGER REVIEW MODERNIZATION ACT

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                     HON. JESUS G. ``CHUY'' GARCIA

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 5, 2019

  Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise today to support the 
Bank Merger Review Modernization Act.
  When big banks get bigger, consumers and taxpayers usually end up 
losing.
  Unprecedented concentration in the banking sector is hurting 
consumers, who pay more for critical financial services when their 
banks are merged out of existence. Since the 1980s, consolidation has 
swept the banking industry, with the number of FDIC-insured banks in 
the United States dropping from more than 15,000 in 1984 to less than 
5,000 in 2018. Numerous studies have shown that bank mergers are 
associated with higher costs of credit, reductions in lending, and 
decreases in small business formation and local property prices.
  Concentration in the banking sector also poses risks to financial 
stability. A wave of bank mergers by Bank of America, Citigroup, 
JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo in the late 1990s created the ``too-big-to-
fail'' banks that became so central to the 2008 financial crisis.
  Rather than scrutinizing the considerable risks that bank mergers 
pose, the regulatory agencies tasked with reviewing these mergers have 
increasingly ``rubber stamped'' them. Bank merger approval rates are at 
historic highs.
  Last month, the Federal Reserve and FDIC approved the largest merger 
since the crash when they gave the green light to the merger between 
BB&T and SunTrust.
  I am concerned that the reviewing agencies are not giving adequate 
attention to the systemic risks that these giant megabanks pose. I am 
also concerned that the considerable harms to consumers are not being 
considered when mergers are reviewed. The Bank Merger Review 
Modernization Act strengthens the bank merger review process to give 
the CFPB and consumers a voice, and to require that the systemic costs 
of too big to fail institutions are taken into full account.
  I urge this body to curb the creation of too big to fail banks and 
pass this bill.

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