Santander Clears Final Hurdle for Webster Bank Acquisition

Banco Santander has received approval from the Federal Reserve to complete its $12.2 billion acquisition of Stamford-based Webster Bank. The deal, first announced six and a half months ago, is expected to be finalized on August 20.

The acquisition will see most of Webster's businesses become part of Santander Bank NA, Santander's US banking franchise. Webster is the largest Connecticut-headquartered bank, with 95 branches statewide compared to Santander's 13. As of June this year, Webster had around $40.4 billion in deposits in Connecticut, while Santander had about $1.9 billion.

Webster CEO John Ciulla said the deal will allow the two organizations to 'bring together our two great organizations to benefit our customers and communities.' Christiana Riley, CEO of Santander US, added that the acquisition will expand their scale and round out their US business model, positioning them to better serve customers.