Company: BCTF
Filing Date: 2025-03-06
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001552781-25-000058
Chunk: 14

Company: Bancorp 34, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-03-06
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 14
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On
July 9, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy. Among other initiatives, the
Executive Order encouraged the federal banking agencies to review their current merger oversight practices under the BHC Act and the
Bank Merger Act and adopt a plan for revitalization of such practices. There are many steps that must be taken by the agencies before
any formal changes to the framework for evaluating bank mergers can be finalized and the prospects for such action are uncertain at this
time; however, the adoption of more expansive or prescriptive standards may have an impact on our acquisition activities. On December
18, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released its updated merger guidelines, which modified certain criteria,
including a reduction of market concentration calculations by which the DOJ would presume a substantial lessening of competition or the
creation of a monopoly. Additionally, the updated merger guidelines focus on a number of other factors related to competitiveness and
the impact of the merger upon various constituencies, including customers and workers. On September 17, 2024, the DOJ announced its withdrawal
from the 1995 Bank Merger Guidelines and emphasized that the 2023 Merger Guidelines remain its sole and authoritative statement across
all industries and at the same time the DOJ released a 2024 Banking Addendum to the 2023 Merger Guidelines. While bank regulators, and
not the DOJ, typically have addressed anti-trust concerns in connection with bank mergers with a focus on market concentration, the updated
DOJ guidelines, addendum, and public comments from DOJ officials suggest that the DOJ could weigh in on more bank mergers in the future.

On
September 25, 2024, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency published final rule making amendments to its business combination
rules and adding as an appendix a new policy statement regarding the principles it uses during its evaluation of factors under the Bank
Merger Act. This OCC Final Rule is effective January 1, 2025, and the new policy statement sets forth standards by which certain mergers
may raise regulatory concerns as well as procedures to extend and augment public comments on proposed mergers. These amendments and the
policy statement could delay merger and other business combination approvals in the future.

15

Change
in Control

Two statutes, the BHC
Act and the Change in Bank Control Act, together with regulations promulgated under them, require some form of