Is the Pause in Bank Deal Approvals a Transitory Issue or Something More?

There are numerous examples of pending M&A deals that are bogged down in the regulatory process, enough to label it a trend. 

Over the past few months, it seems clear that while regulatory approval of announced bank M&A transactions isn’t quite at a standstill, the pace has slowed considerably.  The trend is much more pronounced for larger bank deals, many of which are still pending well past the expectations communicated by bank management teams at deal announcement, though several smaller transactions have been held up as well.  In what we see as an encouraging sign, the vast majority of these transactions haven’t been cited for any specific concerns, rather they just seem to be in an uncertain state of regulatory limbo, at least from our vantage point.