The Federal Reserve Board of Governors is slowly but surely making its way through the backlog of U.S. bank deal applications.
Six U.S. bank deals have received Fed Board approval in 2022, including one deal resulting in a bank with more than $100 billion in total assets — the threshold thought to be the center of regulators' increased scrutiny.
Over the last 12 months, U.S. bank deals have taken a median of 140 days to close, but several larger deals have faced prolonged closing timelines as they awaited Fed approval. As of March 9, 10 U.S. bank deals were pending beyond the 140 day median, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, but closing is on the horizon for some of those deals after long-awaited Fed approval finally came through in the first few months of 2022.
Approvals in 2022
M&T Bank Corp. secured Fed approval for its acquisition of People's United Financial Inc. on March 4, after the deal was pending for more than a year and the parties extended their merger agreement to June 1 from Feb. 21. The companies now expect the tie-up, which was pending for 381 days as of March 9, to close around April 1.
Home BancShares Inc. also expects its pending acquisition of Happy Bancshares Inc. to close in April after Fed approval came through on Feb. 24. The Conway, Ark.-based company originally expected the deal to close early in the first quarter, according to its initial merger release.
On March 1, the Fed Board approved TriCo Bancshares' pending acquisition of Valley Republic Bancorp, which was announced in July 2021.
Three deals that secured Fed Board approval in the first quarter have already closed: Old National Bancorp and First Midwest Bancorp Inc.'s merger of equals, SouthState Corp.'s acquisition of Atlantic Capital Bancshares Inc. and Stock Yards Bancorp Inc.'s acquisition of Commonwealth Bancshares Inc.
Largest Pending
Regulators are set for another busy year of reviewing bank mergers. As of March 9, nine U.S. bank deals with values above $1 billion at announcement remain pending, though three have received Fed approval.
The two largest currently pending deals involve Canadian buyers: Bank of Montreal's pending acquisition of Bank of the West and Toronto-Dominion Bank's bid for First Horizon Corp.
