(Reuters) – Capital One Financial Corp got a greenlight from the Justice Department for its proposed acquisition of Discover Financial Services after the DOJ told other regulators looking into the merger that it doesn’t see sufficient competition concerns to block the deal, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve will review the merger with input from the DOJ.
The DOJ sent a letter to the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency saying it had concluded its investigation and did not believe there were concerns that warranted blocking the deal, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
“Our deal with Discover Financial complies with the Bank Merger Act’s legal requirements and we remain well-positioned to gain approval,” a Capital One spokesperson told Reuters but the company declined to comment further on the approval.
Unveiled in February 2024, the $35 billion deal would create the biggest U.S. credit card issuer by balances, the sixth-largest bank by assets, and it would also give Capital One control of Discover’s card payment network — the fourth major payment network operator.
A spokesperson for the DOJ declined to comment, whereas Discover Financial did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
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