BofA deal gets Fed approval

Bank of America Corp.’s proposed $3.3 billion purchase of U.S. Trust Corp from Charles Schwab Corp. has been approved by the Federal Reserve.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
The transaction would add $11.1 billion in banking assets to Bank of America, pushing the Charlotte, N.C.-based banking company’s total assets to $1.5 trillion, according to a statement The Federal Reserve.
The deal, which was announced in November 2006, was aimed at moving Bank of America to the top spot in the private banking business and pushed assets under management up to $261 billion.
San Francisco-based Schwab bought New York-based U.S. Trust Corp. in May 2000 for $2.9 billion, but decided to sell the unit in order to focus on its core businesses.
The Federal Reserve said the deal was in line with the Bank Holding Company Act and did not increase Bank of America’s market share in any given depository market enough to cause an “adverse effect” on competition in the banking market, according to a bank order.