Federal Reserve approves acquisition of Riggs Bank parent

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Federal Reserve approves acquisition of Riggs Bank parent

AP
Wednesday, April 27, 2005



The Federal Reserve approved the acquisition of Riggs Bank's parent by PNC Financial Services Group Inc for some $643 million (euro495.34 million), with the old-line Washington institution stripped of the embassy and international business that got it into legal trouble over suspicious transactions.

The Fed's board of governors, including chairman, Alan Greenspan, voted 7-0 Tuesday to clear the merger, finding that Pittsburgh-based PNC's stock-and-cash acquisition of Riggs National Corp would not threaten competition or unduly concentrate banking resources.

Riggs Bank, with a 169-year-old history as a prestigious Washington institution where presidents kept their bank accounts, will disappear as an independent concern.

The two sides, which first announced their intention to combine last July, have had a rocky road to a merger and sharp public disputes over the buying price as Riggs' legal problems proliferated.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/Business/html/20050426T210000-0500_79452_OBS_FEDERAL_RESERVE_APPROVES_ACQUISITION_OF_RIGGS_BANK_PARENT.asp