For it is the banking industry upon which American consumers and businesses rely for credit. And experience has shown that where there are competing sources of credit, the price of that credit is lower and its availability is better. That rivalry also brings consumers the benefits of greater innovation and better quality financial services.
Antitrust policy plays the role of ensuring that competition flourishes.
And in my view, the bank merger program of the Department of Justice has successfully prevented anticompetitive effects from bank mergers, ensuring that competitive options are preserved, while at the same time permitting most of the efficiencies associated with those mergers. The Department of Justice's role, unlike that of our sister agencies which also address competitive issues, is as a law enforcement agency, not as a regulator. We intervene only when we believe it is necessary to ensure that markets remain competitive. The Division has been extraordinarily active in this area, dealing with the unprecedented merger wave, which has included a large number of very large bank mergers. In 1995, we required divestitures in five cases.