Regional Bank Living Wills Eyed to Avoid Too-Big-to-Fail Mergers

A top U.S. financial regulator is considering requirements for large regional banks to submit living wills as part of merger applications.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency may require large regional banks seeking approval for mergers and acquisitions to include detailed resolution plans on how the financial institution would be taken apart during a solvency crisis, the agency’s acting chief Michael Hsu said Friday.

The requirements could be similar to the resolution plans and enhanced capital levels that the very largest banks—labeled as globally systemically important banks, or GSIBs—have crafted since the 2008 financial crisis, he said.

Without ...