The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Sept. 18, edition that regulators are increasing antitrust scrutiny of the U.S. banking industry to discourage harmful mergers. A New York Times dispatch to The Globe reports that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has approved stricter guidelines for evaluating bank mergers, requiring more detailed information. The U.S. Justice Department will now assess banking mergers using updated, tougher guidelines. This comes after the 1995 framework was withdrawn, as it was deemed outdated. Some officials argue that increased consolidation among small U.S. banks could help stabilize industry volatility. Others question any banking deal that shifts power away from a community or threatens to close vital community branches. Under current rules, the FDIC assesses the competitive landscape for bank deals primarily by looking at overlapping geographic areas. The proposed rules, published earlier this year, would expand that process to consider other criteria, such as a bank's lending to small businesses and the impact of a deal on certain groups of customers. To support its assessment, the agency would request analyses prepared by the merging banks about the competitive effects.