The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has informed the boards of the Adelaide Bank and Bendigo Bank that it will not oppose the merger of the two organisations.
"This is good news, and means that we can continue our plans to put the merger to a vote of Adelaide Bank shareholders sometime in November," Adelaide Bank group managing director Jamie McPhee said.
The announcement comes less than a week after both companies completed due diligence enquiries on the proposed $4 billion merger.
Bendigo has offered Adelaide Bank shareholders 1.075 of its scrip for every Adelaide Bank share.
The new group will have around $7 billion of funds under management and advice and loans under management of more than $43 billion.
The boards of both banks will each be reduced by two directors when the companies are merged. This will result in a board of 12, including two executive directors.
The merged entity will have about 82,000 shareholders, predominantly retail. It will have an expanded national footprint of more than 380 branches covering all states and territories and 1.3 million customers nationwide.
The group plans to open another 25 branches later this year or early next year.
Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank announced their intention to merge on 9 August.
Bendigo Bank confirmed in late June that it had ceased merger arrangements with Bank of Queensland.
