Company: WAL-PA
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001212545-25-000090
Chunk: 126

Company: WESTERN ALLIANCE BANCORPORATION
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 7
Chunk 126
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 include securities underwriting and dealing, insurance underwriting, and making merchant banking investments.

Mergers and Acquisitions

The BHCA, the Bank Merger Act, and other federal and state statutes regulate the direct and indirect acquisition of depository institutions. The BHCA requires prior FRB approval for a bank holding company to acquire, directly or indirectly, 5% or more of any class of voting securities of a commercial bank or its parent holding company and for a company, other than a bank 

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holding company, to acquire 25% or more of any class of voting securities of a bank or bank holding company. In April 2020, the Federal Reserve adopted a final rule codifying the presumptions used in determinations of whether a company has the ability to exercise a controlling influence over another company for purposes of the BHCA, and providing greater transparency on the types of relationships the Federal Reserve generally views as supporting a determination of control. Under the Change in Bank Control Act, any person, including a company, may not acquire, directly or indirectly, control of a bank without providing 60 days’ prior notice and receiving a non-objection from the appropriate federal banking agency.

Under the Bank Merger Act, the prior approval of the appropriate federal banking agency is required for insured depository institutions to merge or enter into purchase and assumption transactions. In reviewing applications seeking approval of merger and purchase and assumption transactions, the federal banking agencies will consider, among other things, the competitive effects and public benefits of the transactions, the capital position of the combined banking organization, the applicant's performance record under the CRA, and the effectiveness of the subject organizations in combating money laundering activities. For further information relating to the CRA, see the section titled “Community Reinvestment Act and Fair Lending Laws.” In September 2024, the OCC and the FDIC finalized a new Policy Statement Regarding Statutory Factors Under the Bank Merger Act and a new FDIC Statement of Policy on Bank Merger Transactions, respectively. These new policy statements outline factors that the OCC and the FDIC will consider when evaluating a proposed bank merger transaction. The FRB did not release a new merger policy statement. Also in September 2024, the DOJ withdrew its 1995 Bank Merger Guidelines and announced that it will instead evaluate the competitive impact of bank mergers using its 2023 Merger Guidelines that apply across all industries. Compared to the 1995 Bank Merger Guidelines, the 2023 Merger Guidelines set forth more stringent market concentration limits and