Bank of America (BoA) Corp on September 14 won approval from the US Federal Reserve for its $21 billion acquisition of LaSalle Bank Corp from Dutch bank ABN AMRO Holding NV. The decision is the final regulatory approval needed for the transaction, which is expected to close in early October, Bank of America said.
LaSalle has about $160 billion of assets, 411 branches, 1,500 automated teller machines and 1.4 million customers. It operates mainly in the affluent Chicago area, and in Michigan, where high unemployment and an ailing auto industry have dragged on the economy. LaSalle also operates in Indiana.
Adding LaSalle would fill gaps in Bank of America's branch network, and give it its first 264 Michigan branches. It would give Bank of America about $1.7 trillion of assets, second nationally to Citigroup Inc, and more than 6,100 US branches, nearly twice as many as any other bank.
The purchase would also add $59.1 billion of deposits, giving Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America $674.5 billion. That equals 9.88 percent of the $6.83 trillion of deposits nation-wide, according to the Fed order, just under the 10 percent federal cap. Bank of America would become the largest bank in Illinois, with a 12.9 percent deposit share, and would have an 18.6 percent deposit share in Chicago, according to the Fed. While some critics raised competitive concerns, the Fed said the LaSalle transaction "would not have a significantly adverse effect on competition" in any relevant banking market.
The Fed did not include deposits at Countrywide Financial Corp in its calculations.
Bank of America on August 22 bought $2 billion of nonvoting convertible shares of the largest US mortgage lender, but the central bank said this investment did not make Countrywide an affiliate.
LaSalle would be Bank of America Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis' third major acquisition. He paid $48 billion for FleetBoston Financial Corp in 2004, and $34.2 billion for credit card issuer MBNA Corp in 2006.
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