What’s next for the online banking and payments industry?
It could be the end of the big banks, or it could be a new era in which smaller, local banks start to take the lead.
The big four online banking companies — American Express, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo — are expected to announce a $2.7 trillion merger to take control of their $50 billion market, which includes credit card companies.
It’s the largest merger in banking history.
The combination would allow the companies to compete on price and quality, but also on customer experience.
The companies are hoping the deal will create more customers, increase customer loyalty and increase the number of people with online banking accounts.
The deal is expected to be announced Thursday, a day after the end-of-the-year financials report.
The combined company would have about 1.4 million customers.
The banks have said the merger will reduce their costs by about $20 billion and reduce the size of their combined business by about 10%.
American Express has already announced it will sell its U.S. operations and will buy a controlling stake in the combined company.
Citigroup, which has $50.3 billion in assets, has said it is committed to the merger.
Wells Fargo has said the deal is in the “best interests of its customers.”
The banks are hoping to complete the deal by the end and close it in the second half of 2021.
American and Citigroup have said they plan to combine their services to offer more than 4 million customers and to deliver more than $2 trillion in transactions in 2020.
Wells Fargo said it will keep its U,S.
banking operations, while American and Citic will continue to operate their operations in the U.K., Europe and Asia.