To accelerate the review of financial institution merger applications in response to market needs before the Financial Institutions Mergers Law comes into force, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) plans to simplify its review procedure for such applications.Under the FTC's present plan, if the combined market share of institutions wishing to merge is less than 5%, and the liabilities of the institution to be acquired exceed its assets, then the merger may go ahead on being approved by the FTC handling department without a resolution of the commission meeting. But further discussion is required as to whether a batch review process will be used similar to that applied to convenience stores, and whether a market share threshold of 5% is appropriate.
