Bank Mergers Have Not Hurt Consumers

Consumers generally haven’t suffered in the recent wave of bank mergers, and by some measures, they actually have increased access to loans and other services, top federal regulators said Tuesday.

“The evidence shows that after more than a decade of restructuring, banks have just as many offices providing significant credit and a broader array of products and services,” said Ricki Helfer, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Testifying at a House Banking subcommittee hearing, Helfer joined colleagues from the Federal Reserve Board, the Comptroller of the Currency and the state of Washington’s banking supervisor to discuss the impact of bank mergers on consumers.

The subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Marge Roukema, R-N.J., said the hearing was an attempt to examine the mergers in context of a new interstate banking law that goes into effect in 1997.