Fed OKs Capital One’s Buyout Of ING Direct
By Kevin Allenspach, St. Cloud Times, Minn. |
In response to a message left by the Times, Capital One spokeswoman
The Federal Reserve, which regulates bank holding companies, announced the unanimous vote after a closed-door meeting in
In a brief statement, the Fed said it had given its approval after directing Capital One to "upgrade its risk-management functions to reflect the bank's new size and complexity."
The move came despite concern from some community banks and consumer advocates that the merger would create another financial institution that would be "too big to fail," putting the U.S. economy at risk.
The approval by the Fed was the first using new governmental authority under a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act to oversee bank mergers. The powers were given in the wake of the Great Recession.
The Fed held public hearings in advance of making a decision but twice postponed plans to announce the ruling -- perhaps giving rise to the idea there was discontent among the voting members.
Capital One doesn't rank among the nation's 10 largest banks on its own; post-acquisition, it's expected to assume the No. 5 rank.
Critics argued the acquisition relied too heavily on credit cards, which are a riskier business than general consumer banking.
About 65 percent of Capital One's revenue comes from its credit card business. The bank also plans to buy
ING Direct, which has U.S. headquarters in
At that time, Myres said he expected the deal to go through and that he didn't see redundancies between Capital One and ING Direct's presence in
"I never look at change as a negative," Myres said in August. "I'm too busy looking for the opportunity it brings. It's like, 'You acquired us. Here's what we can do for you.' I think that means something when you're working with new people and you put it on the line like that ... With Capital One, we're going from the 15th-largest bank in
At the time of the original merger announcement, Capital One said it expects to save
ING Direct was launched in
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