Capital One’s Discover Takeover Gets the Green Light. The Two Will Create the 6th-Largest U.S. Bank.
Two top U.S. banking regulators on Friday approved Capital One $35.3 billion all-stock bid to buy Discover Financial Services clearing the final regulatory requirements the two companies needed to close the merger and create the sixth-largest U.S. bank. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve Board, which oversee U.S. lenders, said that they had approved the proposed deal that was announced in February 2024. The merger has faced opposition from consumer advocacy groups and Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who said the tie-up would hurt competition, particularly in credit cards, and lead to higher costs for consumers.