Bank M&A advances as capital calibration comments intensify

Santander-Webster received OCC approval. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved the merger of Webster Bank into Santander Bank N.A. for the pending $12.3 billion transaction. Federal Reserve Board and European Central Bank approvals are still required, and Santander expects the deal to close in the second half of 2026.

MidFirst Bank agreed to buy Dallas Capital Bank. The price was not disclosed, and closing is expected in the second half of 2026. The transaction would bring $1.2 billion-asset Dallas Capital Bank into $42 billion-asset MidFirst Bank and accelerate MidFirst’s expansion in Texas.

FDIC weighs discount-window capacity in liquidity rules. Travis Hill said the idea is still in early cross-agency discussions and would not replace high-quality liquid-asset requirements. The policy question is whether some Federal Reserve discount-window borrowing capacity should count toward liquidity requirements as an incentive for banks to maintain readiness to borrow.

BPI, ABA and other trade groups filed three capital comment letters. BPI said it filed or co-signed three comment letters on pending federal banking-agency capital proposals, including a Basel letter asking regulators to reduce overlapping charges and keep current commitment definitions to avoid lending uncertainty. ABA and other associations said the Basel proposal improves on the 2023 version but still needs changes to stress-capital-buffer overlap, market risk and credit valuation adjustment treatment, and they asked for a Jan. 1, 2028 implementation date. BPI also said it joined a Financial Services Forum letter on the Fed's GSIB surcharge proposal and co-led a separate letter on standardized-approach changes.