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April 2025 • Issue 25:04:02

Winds of change sweep

through Washington

When the acquisition was announced last year, during the
Biden Administration, the DOJ raised concerns regarding
the impact on consumers who had no credit. Antitrust con-
siderations were also voiced, since the $35 billion acquisi-
tion would create the largest credit card issuer in the na-
tion, with roughly $250 billion in card balances.

After receiving approval, in a joint press release dated
April 18, 2025, the companies said there will be no immedi-
ate changes to Capital One and Discover customer accounts
and relationships. But Capital One's management has big
plans, including, potentially, a push to end what has been
seen as the Visa-Mastercard duopoly.

For years, merchants have complained that Mastercard and
Visa, as the two major credit card networks, have moved
in lockstep on fees. After the acquisition, competition from
By Patti Murphy Discover could change that.

f there is one constant in life, it's that everything is Richard Fairbank, founder, CEO and chairman of the board
subject to change. It's now fair to say that Americans of Capital One, seemed to hint at that in a video accom-
– individuals and businesses – are getting an abject panying the April press release. "This deal accelerates our
I lesson in that fact with the change in governance long-standing journey to work directly with merchants to
ushered in by the 2024 election. leverage our customer base, technology and our data to
drive more sales for merchants, and greater deals for con-
Approval of the acquisition of Discover Financial Services sumers and small businesses," he said.
by Capital One Financial Corp. is one example. Then there
is the plan for the Department of the Treasury to have a
more active role in banking regulation. And there is the
gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Contributed articles inside by:
rules it adopted that would have put nonbank financial ser-
vices providers on a more equal footing with their regu-
lated competitors. Allen Kopelman .....................................................................................18
Capital One gets go-ahead to acquire Discover Guillaume Tournand ..........................................................................20

The most noteworthy change, the green light for Capital Jaki Kackert .............................................................................................26
One's acquisition of Discover, came when the Department Karl Mattson ...........................................................................................28
of Justice disclosed it would not object to the plan. Approv-
als by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Will Tumulty ...........................................................................................30
Federal Reserve, the two federal regulators with oversight
responsibilities for Capital One, swiftly followed.

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