CLEARING A BANK MERGER THROUGH THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE - THE 1992 HORIZONTAL MERGER GUIDELINES

What are the ramifications of the application of the 1992 Horizontal. Merger Guidelines' analysis to bank mergers? In the author's view, the Antitrust Division's attempt to hone its investigation of the competitive effects to actual conditions in each of the affected markets, while allowing a more in-depth assessment of the transaction, will likely lead to decreased predictability of government intervention and increased time and costs of compliance. The author reviews the 1992 Guidelines' methodology as it has been applied to bank mergers and explores some of the opportunities the new guidelines afford for those advocating a bank merger before the Justice Department.