FTC Taps Deputy With Background in ‘Contentious Merger Review’

Big business had hoped the Trump administration would approach regulation somewhat differently than its predecessor.

But a pair of announcements Tuesday (Feb. 18) from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suggest that some things are set to remain the same on that front.

In the first, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said that the agency would continue to use the merger guidelines created by the commission and Department of Justice in 2023.

“Stability is good for the enforcement agencies. The wholesale rescission and reworking of guidelines is time consuming and expensive,” Ferguson said in a news release. “We should undertake this process sparingly. We have limited resources to patrol the beat and constant turnover undermines agency credibility.”

Also Tuesday, Ferguson named David Shaw as the FTC’s principal deputy director, describing him as “an experienced antitrust lawyer with expertise in high-stakes litigation and contentious merger review.”

A veteran of the Justice Department in the first Trump administration, Shaw helped lead government investigations into Big Tech, and coordinated with state attorneys general in the DOJ’s complaint in the Google search monopolization case.

Meanwhile, the FTC has also picked another pair of antitrust attorneys for senior roles:

Kelse Moen as deputy director of the agency’s Bureau of Competition, and Douglas C. Geho as deputy director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Moen most recently, he served as senior counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for Sen. Lindsey Graham.

He also spent close to a decade practicing antitrust law at major international law firms, “representing businesses and individuals in high-stakes and high-profile government investigations, class actions, civil and criminal litigation, and merger reviews,” the announcement said.

Geho served as counsel for the Department of Labor during the first Trump administration and as lead attorney for the House Judiciary Committee and two of its subcommittees, and as attorney adviser to FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak handling consumer protection matters.

In other regulatory news, PYMNTS wrote Tuesday about possible efforts by FinTechs to become neobanks amid a changing landscape for financial rulemaking.

“The recent freeze on all new rulemaking at various regulatory agencies — including greater scrutiny on bank/FinTech partnerships may open up the spigots for more joint activity,” that report said.

“PYMNTS also noted last week that there’s been a growing drumbeat for an easier path toward ne novo, or new, bank creation. At a recent Capitol Hill hearing, GOP Rep. French Hill of Arkansas, who chairs the House Committee on Financial Services, said there have been only 82 new bank charters granted in the past decade and a half.”