On April 18th, 2025, Capital One Financial Corporation and Discover Financial Services announced that Capital One's acquisition of Discover has been approved by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Back in December of 2024, the Delaware State Commissioner approved the transaction, and in February of this year, 99% of each company's shareholders voted in favor of the acquisition as well.
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Capital One has stated that all required regulatory approvals to complete the transaction have been received. The transaction is therefore expected to close on May 18, 2025, as long as all customary closing conditions are met.
According to Capital One, there will not be any immediate changes to the customer accounts of either Capital One or Discover immediately following the transaction's close. The company has stated it will provide customers with information about any future changes or relevant conversion activities.
When the transaction closes, Capital One will begin to implement its five-year Community Benefits Plan (CBP). The company claims the plan will leverage $265 billion to invest in "critical economic priorities" like housing affordability, small business growth, community development, and lending to low and moderate-income consumers and small businesses.
The merger did not come without its challenges. In October of 2024, New York Attorney General Letitia James initiated a probe into the acquisition to investigate whether it would violate New York antitrust laws. While James had requested the two companies waive confidentiality so her office could review the documents submitted to the Justice Department's antitrust division, the OCC denied her office access to these documents. James had expressed concern that the merger would have a "significant impact" in New York since Capital One and Discover each respectively have over $9.5 billion and $6.5 billion of credit card loans in the state.
Capital One customers also sued in July of the same year to block the merger, claiming it would block competition and drive up prices. The acquisition faced criticism from members of Congress as well, with some calling on US regulators to block it. Capital One argued the deal would not harm credit card competition since, even combined, the companies would only account for an estimated 13% of credit card purchasing volume. Still, the merger would make Capital One the largest US credit card issuer with a combined outstanding loan total of $250 billion.
Ultimately, the deal was approved by regulators. The move allows Capital One to operate not just as a major lender but also as a payment network. The combined entity could potentially take up more than 30% of the market share among subprime card issuers. The all-stock transaction has been valued at $35.3 billion, and the two companies combined would create the eighth-largest bank covered by the government deposit insurance.
