The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved Santander’s application to acquire Webster Bank, the Connecticut lender disclosed in a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The approval, dated June 12, came 74 days after the Spanish bank submitted its application to the OCC, according to the filing. The $12.3 billion transaction still needs a green light from the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.
The time frame for bank combinations – from announcement to regulator approval – has shrunk since President Donald Trump retook office in January 2025.
The second half of last year saw four proposed bank acquisitions with a value of $4 billion or more. PNC’s $4.1 billion acquisition of Colorado’s FirstBank received the Fed’s approval 94 days after proposal. The central bank approved Fifth Third’s $10.9 billion acquisition of Comerica 99 days after the proposal went public. The $8.6 billion merger of equals between Pinnacle and Synovus received the Fed’s blessing after 124 days.
Santander’s green light isn’t the fastest of its kind, though. The OCC approved Huntington’s $7.4 billion acquisition of Cadence 56 days after it was proposed last year.
By comparison, the richest banking combination proposed during the Biden administration – Capital One’s $35.3 billion acquisition of Discover – received OCC approval 424 days after it was proposed.
Santander’s 74-day green light perhaps doesn’t represent the full proposal-to-approval window. The Spanish bank went public with its deal for Webster on Feb. 3 but didn’t submit its application to the OCC until March 30.
Webster Bank’s shareholders approved the tie-up May 26, the Connecticut lender said.
In addition to approval from the OCC, Fed and ECB, the Justice Department’s antitrust division was set to review the proposed deal and analyze its potential competitive effect, Webster disclosed in April.
In anticipation of the bank combination, Santander and Webster sketched out a proposed second layer of management in April.
Santander has said it expects the deal, which will create a $327 billion-asset U.S. lender, will close in the second half of this year.
