Congress Likely to Relax Regulations for Small- and Mid-Sized Banks; Mergers Could Be Next
Regional banks may get the urge to merge if Congress relaxes some regulations this year.
Congress will likely reduce regulations for small- and mid-sized banks this year, according to Ron Orol, senior editor with The Deal. Orol says that while Republicans are keen to dismantle the Dodd-Frank financial reforms, rolling back thousands of pages of regulations based on that statue is easier said than done.
But Orol does expect some easing of regulations for smaller banks, and notes that idea has bipartisan support.
Should that occur, Orol said, it may prompt a round of deal-making at regional banks like Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) - Get Report , Comerica (CMA) - Get Report , Regions Financial (RF) - Get Report and BB&T (BBT) - Get Report .
