The Comité des Etablissements de Crédit et des Enterprises d'Investissement (CECEI), the French banking regulator, will meet on later this month to examine Crédit Agricole's €19.9bn ($21.2bn) agreed offer for Crédit Lyonnais.

The regulator will interview teams from the two banks as well as representatives of the other big French banking groups who submitted comments to the CECEI last month on potential competition issues arising from the proposed merger. Following the February 17 meeting, the CECEI will give a final decision by mid-March.