Overview
- The Federal Reserve granted final approval for Banco Santander to acquire Webster Financial Corporation, completing required U.S. and European sign-offs.
- Santander values the deal at more than $12 billion and will add Webster’s roughly $80 billion in assets to its U.S. operations.
- The Fed set a closing window of between 15 days and three months for Santander to complete the absorption of Webster.
- Santander says the acquisition should lift earnings per share by about 7–8% and push return on tangible equity toward 18% by 2028.
- U.S. supervisors flagged potential effects on competition in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and warned the integration could lead to branch closures and staff reductions even as they found public-interest benefits.