Jonathan Kanter
Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Division
Jonathan Seth Kanter was born in July 1973 in New York City. He earned an undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Albany and received his Juris Doctor from Washington University Law School.
He worked two years as an antitrust attorney at the Federal Trade Commission before entering private practice.
President Joe Biden nominated Kanter to be Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice Antitrust Division. He was confirmed by the Senate and assumed his position in November 2021.
In the News…
The Justice Department Antitrust Division is implementing a broader scope of criteria and further empowering independent regulators as part of its expanded scrutiny of bank mergers.
Jonathan Kanter, the assistant attorney general who heads the Antitrust Division, said, “We are in the process of reorienting the Antitrust Division’s role to focus on providing our advisory opinion as required by the statute and not remedies agreements with parties. The goal is for this revised procedure to faithfully effectuate the Department’s limited — but essential — statutory role in bank antitrust enforcement and facilitate the banking agencies’ analysis of competition and other factors.”
Assistant Attorney General Kanter said the “narrow focus on local market deposit concentration” is inadequate. The current approach, he said, “may also disproportionately focus enforcement on transactions involving small local banks and understate network concerns relating to large national and international banks.”
He added, “Bank competition affects the interest you earn on your savings account, the monthly payment on your mortgage or car loan, the fees you pay to withdraw cash from an ATM, the variety of financial products you can choose from, and whether your business can get an affordable loan.”
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Assistant Attorney General Kanter today? You can let him know at:
The Honorable Jonathan Kanter
Assistant Attorney General
Department of Justice
Antitrust Division
950 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20530
