The FDIC must use its power to block the merger of SunTrust Bank and BB&T. This merger will create another mega-bank that will put our financial system at risk, while also costing thousands of jobs across the country. The FDIC can stop this, and must do so.
Two of the biggest banks are about to become one mega-bank — and time is running out to stop them.
SunTrust Bank and BB&T are planning to merge, and would become the nation's sixth-largest bank if they succeed. They'd be larger than Washington Mutual and Countrywide, two financial institutions that helped cause the 2008 financial crisis.
That alone is cause for serious concern. Now we've learned that Republican Senator Richard Shelby is greasing the skids to get this merger through. The FDIC is the last line of defense — yet the White House, led by a former Shelby staffer, is blocking Democratic appointees to the FDIC from being confirmed.1
This is an urgent moment to stop the creation of a new mega-bank. Will you sign the petition and tell the FDIC to block the SunTrust/BB&T merger?
We learned in 2008 just how damaging large banks can be to the economy and to our country. Allowing these two banks to merge risks recreating the "too big to fail" conditions that led to the financial crisis and the bank bailout.
The merger would also devastate jobs in communities across America. SunTrust and BB&T have 740 branches within a two mile radius, from Pennsylvania to Florida.2 The merged bank won't need to have all those branches stay open. In fact, closing numerous branches and laying off thousands of employees is part of the "efficiencies" that they're using to sell the deal.3
Senator Sherrod Brown is urging the FDIC board itself to weigh in on this merger, rather than just let staff make the decision.4 He's right, and he needs our help right now.
The bankers and their Republican allies are efficient and ruthless. Sen. Shelby has stacked numerous commissions with friends of the big banks. They are going all out to get this deal done. Our last line of defense is the FDIC board, and they need to hear from you right now.
Add your name: Tell the FDIC board to reject the SunTrust/BB&T merger. Don't let them create another mega bank and risk another financial crisis.
Sources:
1.
The Intercept, "The 'Shelby Mafia' Is Muscling Through A Major New Bank Merger,"
April 24, 2019.2. ibid
3. SunTrust Bank press release, "BB&T and SunTrust to Combine in Merger of Equals to Create the Premier Financial Institution,"
February 7, 2019.