{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/warren-and-garca-press-regulators-for-evidence-supporting-their-approval-of-the-bbandt-suntrust-merger", "Warren and Garc\u00eda Press Regulators For Evidence Supporting Their Approval of the BB&T-Suntrust Merger", "2019-12-16", "2019", "2019-12", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 16, 2019\n\t\t\t Warren and Garca Press Regulators For Evidence Supporting Their Approval of the BB&T-Suntrust Merger \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t \"The creation of a new bank with almost $450 billion worth of assets has broad implications for working families, their communities and U.S. financial system, and consumers deserve to know exactly how these decisions are made by your agency\"; Warren and Garca introduced the bicameral Bank Merger Review Modernization Act earlier this month\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWashington, DC - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren\r\n(D-Mass.), member of the Senate Banking Committee, and Representative Jess\r\n\"Chuy\" Garca (D-Ill.), member of the House of Representatives\r\nCommittee on Financial Services, on Friday sent a letter to the Federal Reserve\r\n(Fed) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to raise new\r\nquestions about their agencies' rubber-stamp approval of the $450 billion\r\nBB&T-Suntrust merger. The merger, finalized on December 6, 2019, created\r\nTruist Financial Corporation (Truist), the sixth largest bank in the United\r\nStates and the first new big \"Too Big To Fail\" bank since the\r\nfinancial crisis.\"The creation of a new bank with almost $450 billion worth of assets\r\nhas broad implications for working families, their communities and U.S.\r\nfinancial system, and consumers deserve to know exactly how these decisions are\r\nmade by your agency,\" the lawmakers wrote in their letter.Senator Warren and Representative Garca are the lead sponsors of the\r\nbicameral Bank\r\nMerger Review Modernization Act, legislation that would put an end to the\r\nrubber stamping of bank merger applications, restrict harmful consolidation in\r\nthe banking industry, and protect consumers and the financial system from Too\r\nBig to Fail institutions.The lawmakers' letter asked regulators to respond to their questions no\r\nlater than December 27, 2019 from the Fed and no later than December 30, 2019\r\nfrom the FDIC.Today Senator Warren also released questions for the hearing record\r\nsubmitted to the Banking Committee in follow up to financial regulators'\r\ntestimony at a December 5th hearing, \"Oversight of Financial\r\nRegulators.\" In addition to raising questions about the BB&T-SunTrust\r\nmerger, Senator Warren questioned regulators about their oversight of the\r\nCommunity Reinvestment Act, the impact of climate change on financial\r\nstability, and the \"valid-when-made\" doctrine.Senator Warren has a strong record of questioning Too Big to Fail banks and\r\nthe regulators who enable them:\r\n Senator Elizabeth Warren, the\r\nlate Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and\r\nSenator Angus King (I-Maine) re-introduced the21st\r\nCentury Glass-Steagall Act, a modern version of the Banking Act of\r\n1933 (Glass-Steagall) that protects American taxpayers, helps community\r\nbanks and credit unions compete, and decreases the likelihood of future\r\nfinancial crises.The group of lawmakersfirst\r\nintroducedthe bill in 2013.\r\n In January 2018, Senator\r\nWarren delivered aspeechon\r\nthe Senate floor opposing the nomination of Jerome Powell to serve as\r\nChairman of the Fed. In her speech, Senator Warrenexpressed\r\nconcernthat Mr. Powell would weaken financial regulations rather\r\nthan strengthen them, and urged her colleagues to reject his\r\nnomination.\r\n In March 2018, Senator\r\nWarrenintroducedthe\r\nEnding Too Big to Jail Act to hold big bank executives accountable when\r\nthe banks they lead break the law.\r\n In response to a letter\r\nSenator Warrenwrotein\r\nApril 2018 to Chairman Powell and Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the\r\nwake of the passage of the Bank Lobbyist Act (Public Law No: 115-174),\r\nwhich the senator correctly assumed would catalyze mergers among large\r\nbanks, Chairman Powelladmittedthat\r\nno merger applications had been declined since 2006, though a handful had\r\nbeen withdrawn. Chairman Powell's letter also revealed that in considering\r\na merger application, the Fed largely looks at whether the merger would\r\ncreate monopolies for the merged bank in any market.\r\n In February 2019, following\r\nthe announcement of the merger proposal between BB&T and SunTrust,\r\nSenator Warrenwroteto\r\nChairman Powell asking about the proposed merger's effect on consumers.\r\n Senator Warren alsoraised\r\nquestionswith Chairman Powell during a February 2019 Senate\r\nBanking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing about closed-door\r\ndiscussions that take place before a merger application is filed. As a\r\nresult, the Fedannouncedthat\r\nit would hold two public forums to get public input on the BB&T and\r\nSunTrust merger.\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n###   \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/warren-and-garca-press-regulators-for-evidence-supporting-their-approval-of-the-bbandt-suntrust-merger"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6435449942946434, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}