Europe clears B of A merger.

Europe Clears B of A Merger

BRUSSELS - The European Community Commission said it has cleared the merger of BankAmerica Corp. and Security Pacific Corp., which had been scrutinized under the community's competition guidelines.

The multinational governing body said the merger would not give BankAmerica a dominant position in the European banking market.

The BankAmerica-Security Pacific merger would create a holding company with about $200 billion in assets, second among U.S. banking companies to Citicorp.

The California-based institutions' international businesses are concentrated in Asia and the Pacific Basin. European activities include foreign exchange, currency clearing, interest-rate and currency swaps, and credit operations, and are primarily in Britain, Spain, and Germany, the European Commission said.

Under European Community law, the commission must review merger accords of large companies to ensure they do not harm competition within the 12-nation region. The commission can block or alter such agreements if they violate its guidelines.

BankAmerica and Security Pacific each have annual European revenue equivalent to just above 250 million European Currency Units (about $207 million), the threshold for a merger inquiry.

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