Capital One gets green light to buy Discover for $35B and form credit card giant

The pending merger between Capital One and Discover Financial Services received approval from several regulators Friday, bringing the $35 billion tie-up closer to completion.

The Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency signed off on the deal, which was first announced in February 2024.

The Federal Reserve Board said it entered into a consent order with Discover and assessed a fine of $100 million for overcharging certain interchange fees from 2007 through 2023.

Discover has since terminated these practices and is repaying those fees to affected customers, according to the Federal Reserve. The board’s action is being taken in coordination with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

It said Capital One has committed that it will comply with the Board’s action against Discover of Riverwoods, Ill., including remediation requirement, as a condition of approval.

The OCC said its approval reflects its “careful analysis of the effect of the merger on communities, the banking industry, and the US financial system.”

Capital One, based in McLean, Va., said it expects to complete the acquisition on May 18 now that it’s received all required regulatory approvals. Shareholders of both companies approved the deal in February.

The deal joins two of the largest credit card companies that aren’t banks first, like JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, with the notable exception of American Express. It also brings together two companies whose customers are largely similar.

It also will give Discover’s payment network a major credit card partner in a way that could make the payment network a major competitor once again.

The US credit card industry is dominated by the Visa-Mastercard duopoly, with AmEx being a distant third place and Discover an even more distant fourth place.