Bank mergers approved by Fed

FleetBoston Financial Corp. and Firstar Corp. both received approval Monday from the Federal Reserve to complete acquisitions announced six months ago.

FleetBoston agreed in October to buy Princeton, N.J.-based Summit Bancorp. The same month, Firstar, led by Chief Executive Jerry Grundhofer, agreed to buy U.S. Bancorp, run by his older brother, John F. Grundhofer, for $23 billion to become the eighth-largest U.S. bank.

U.S. Bancorp is a big operator in the Las Vegas and Nevada market.

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