CFPB · Difference-in-Differences

Complaint Intelligence

Two-way fixed effects DiD comparing Truist to four control institutions after the February 2019 BB&T/SunTrust merger announcement. 677,037 matched complaints.

0.111
DiD estimate (δ̂)
+11.8%
Implied increase
0.014
p-value (HC3)
[0.022, 0.201]
95% CI
Pre-Period Quarterly Growth RatesParallel trends support

Pre-period growth rates broadly comparable across institutions — no outlier pattern before the merger.

+0.98%
Truist
+0.42%
JPMorgan
+1.96%
Citibank
-0.64%
Wells Fargo
-2.14%
Bank of America
Post-Merger Complaint Change by Product
Checking/Savings
+8,556
Credit Reporting
+4,712
Vehicle Loan
+1,380
Debt Collection
+973
Credit Card
+970
Mortgage
-1,442

Checking/savings accounts account for 73.1% of total incremental positive volume post-merger.

Model Specification
log(1 + Cᵢₜ) = αᵢ + λₜ + δ · (Treatᵢ × Postₜ) + εᵢₜ

Two-way fixed effects: institution (αᵢ) + quarter (λₜ). Standard errors: HC3-robust.
Control group: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank.
DiD estimates are directionally informative. Control institutions are substantially larger than Truist; log transformation and institution FEs partially address size differences. Maximum observed z-score: 1.50 (no anomalous spikes at z > 2.0).