Capital One’s planned merger with Discover, which has drawn early antitrust objections, could add competition in the payments space by making Discover a stronger rival to the biggest companies.
The deal, announced Monday, would cost Capital One $35 billion and result in the largest U.S. credit card company by loan volume. The deal would be a boost for Discover and could make it more of a player against larger rivals such as Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.
“Discover is currently in fourth place in card network size, far behind its competitors in its share of the credit card market,” said John Berlau, director of finance policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “By boosting this card network’s resources, the merger could actually create more robust competition against Discover’s bigger rivals, leading to an increase in benefits for consumers.”
There are four major
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