| Dear Katy, A decade after their fraud destroyed the global economy, Wall Street megabanks are bigger than ever. But instead of working to break them up, Washington opened the door to a brand new big bank merger. Last year, corporate Democrats teamed up with Republicans to help Wall Street get rid of a bunch of tough banking rules. It is no coincidence that southern banking giants BB&T and SunTrust announced a planned merger only a few months later. If SunTrust and BB&T merge, the new bank would be one of the largest in the United States and far larger than some of the institutions that caused the financial crash.1 The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation must approve the merger before it goes through. Sen. Sherrod Brown is pressuring the FDIC to fully investigate and oppose the BB&T/SunTrust merger, and he needs our help.2 Tell the FDIC: Block the BB&T/SunTrust merger. Click here to sign the petition. SunTrust and BB&T lobbied hard for the Senate to cut regulations on banks, including by funneling money to Senate Democrats and Republicans. Advocates and CREDO members fought the proposal, warning that it would pave the road to greater bank consolidation. Soon after the Senate stripped the rules, BB&T and SunTrust proved progressives right by turning around and announcing their proposed merger.3 This mega-merger would be the largest bank merger since the financial crash. The new company – which will be called Truist – would be the sixth largest bank in the country. Bank consolidation means bankers spend more time speculating and gambling to line their own pockets, instead of investing in the real economy. The two banks currently compete in overlapping markets, meaning any merger would eliminate competition and hurt workers and consumers. The combined assets of BB&T and SunTrust would far outweigh those of two institutions at the heart of the crisis, Washington Mutual and Countrywide Financial, at the time of the economic collapse.4 BB&T and SunTrust want to create a new too-big-to-fail bank to make their executives and elite shareholders rich at the expense of the rest of us. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is responsible for assessing the merger and regulating any resulting company. But Trump is trying to sabotage the FDIC by stalling on nominating the Democratic candidates.5 Sen. Brown is demanding a full-board investigation into the merger in part to put pressure on the Trump administration to fulfill its responsibilities and ensure that Republican appointees cannot singlehandedly approve the proposal. We need to stand with Sen. Brown – and raise our voices to demand that the FDIC oppose this bank mega-merger. Tell the FDIC: Block the BB&T/SunTrust merger. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/bbt-suntrust?t=9&akid=33883%2E12967895%2Ego0ojR Thank you for speaking out, Heidi Hess, Co-Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - Sen. Sherrod Brown, "Brown: Full FDIC Board Must Consider Impact of BB&T and SunTrust Merger," April 23, 2019.
- Ibid.
- Sam Knight, "Senate Democrats Enabled the Biggest Bank Merger Since the 2008 Crash," TruthOut, March 10, 2019.
- Sen. Brown, "Brown: Full FDIC Board Must Consider Impact of BB&T and SunTrust Merger."
- David Dayen, "The 'Shelby Mafia' is muscling through a major new bank merger," The Intercept, April 24, 2019.
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