Antitrust merger review
Antitrust merger review in Financial & Capital Markets is one of the most scrutinized deal-clearance tracks in the United States right now, with the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission both asserting aggressive second-request postures on financial sector consolidations since the 2023 Merger Guidelines revision. The European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition has added a parallel pressure point for cross-border deals, particularly those touching payment infrastructure and asset management platforms. Compliance and legal teams at acquiring institutions are rebuilding deal timetables around extended review windows, not the pre-2022 assumptions.
Watch
- 2023 DOJ/FTC Merger Guidelines: expanded market definition tests for financial platforms
- Second-request timelines stretching past 12 months on fintech acquisition deals
- European Commission Phase II investigations into payment sector consolidations
- Hart-Scott-Rodino filing threshold increase effective February 2024: new fee tiers apply
- DOJ behavioral remedy resistance: structural remedies now the baseline expectation
Recent material activity in Financial & Capital Markets
Active monitoring in place across Financial & Capital Markets. Material developments related to antitrust merger review will appear here as they are published.