The September bank merger policy statement would be rescinded under a proposal the federal bank deposit insurance agency issued Monday for a 30-day public comment period.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) also extended the compliance deadline for certain official sign and advertising requirements (related to bank deposit insurance) from May 1, 2025, to March 1, 2026. Later in the day, the agency’s board announced it was withdrawing four rule proposals, including those on brokered deposits and implementing the Change in Bank Control Act (CBCA).
The agency announced all actions in releases Monday.
In the first, the agency said it proposes to “reinstate, on an interim basis, the Merger Policy Statement that was in effect prior to 2024 as the agency conducts a broader reevaluation of its bank merger review process.” Comments will be due 30 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register.
The delay in the official sign and advertising requirements, finalized in 2023, applies to requirements related to the display of the FDIC’s official sign on insured depository institutions’ digital channels, and those related to institutions’ automated teller machines (ATMs) “and like devices.”
The delay is specific to sections 328.4 and 328.5 of the rule, the FDIC said. “The FDIC plans to use the additional time to propose adjustments to the regulation,” it said.
Regarding the withdrawn proposals, the agency said:
- It was withdrawing the brokered deposits proposal (published last summer) because it would “have significantly disrupted many aspects of the deposit landscape.
- It withdrew the corporate governance proposal (published in October) because it “would have created a number of overly prescriptive and process-oriented expectations for management and boards of directors of FDIC-supervised institutions with $10 billion or more in total consolidated assets.”
- It removed CBCA proposal (published in August) because it “would have removed an exemption from the requirement to submit a notice to the FDIC for an acquisition of voting securities of a depository institution holding company for which the Federal Reserve reviews a CBCA notice.”
- It discarded the proposal related to incentive-based compensation arrangements (approved by the FDIC Board in May, but never published).
FDIC Board of Directors Approves Proposal to Rescind 2024 Bank Merger Policy Statement
FDIC Board of Directors Withdraws Four Outstanding Proposed Rules