Sponsors (2)
The bill raises scrutiny and transparency to limit risky bank consolidation and protect the Deposit Insurance Fund and taxpayers, but it narrows rescue options, increases legal and reporting burdens, and could delay or deter quick crisis‑time resolutions.
Taxpayers, depositors, and local communities: the bill tightens standards and enforces statutory limits so fewer merger exceptions are granted, reducing risky consolidation and lowering the chance the Deposit Insurance Fund or taxpayers will back failures.
Taxpayers, researchers, and Congress: the bill requires public reports and actionable recommendations about concentration‑limit waivers and resolutions, increasing transparency and enabling oversight that can inform policy to reduce future bailouts.
Banks and potential bidders: the bill creates clearer, public eligibility standards (e.g., 'qualified bid', 'well capitalized/well managed'), improving predictability about which transactions can qualify for exceptions.
Local communities, depositors, and taxpayers: stricter exception criteria and limits on allowable bids will shrink the pool of eligible acquirers, which can delay resolutions, raise costs, and increase the risk of short‑term deposit disruption or larger losses to the DIF.
Depositors and failing banks: requiring a 'clear and convincing' evidentiary standard and rigid 'well capitalized/well managed' tests reduces agency flexibility in urgent crises, potentially slowing emergency actions and prolonging instability.
Federal agencies and banks: short reporting deadlines, expanded public reporting, and associated review/redaction needs will impose administrative burdens that can divert staff and slow on‑the‑ground resolution work, and public disclosures may chill candid supervisory discussion.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Narrows when banks can get concentration-limit waivers, adds reporting and public disclosure for waivers tied to failing banks, and bars FDIC from counting bids that would violate statutory limits in least-cost comparisons.
Introduced December 10, 2025 by Stephen F. Lynch · Last progress December 10, 2025
Tightens when banks can get exceptions to statutory deposit-concentration limits, allowing such exceptions only to avoid serious adverse economic or financial effects and narrowing agency discretion. It creates narrow, evidence-based paths for otherwise prohibited interstate mergers when a target bank is in default or danger of default, requires rapid public reporting after any waiver tied to a failing bank, and prohibits the FDIC from counting bids that would violate concentration or certain Bank Holding Company Act limits when deciding the "least costly" resolution method. The bill increases transparency (30-day reports with public posting), adds definitions and standards for "qualified bid," "well capitalized," and "well managed," and changes how resolution choices are evaluated so illegal or prohibited bids cannot be treated as cost-saving options for the Deposit Insurance Fund.