Capital Briefs: Boston Banks to Sell 20 Branches for Merger

To satisfy antitrust concerns about their merger plans, Bank of Boston and BayBanks agreed Tuesday to sell 20 branches with total deposits of $860 million to USTrust.

The Justice Department required the branch sales to ensure competition for banking services to small and medium-size businesses. BayBanks is to sell 16 branches and Bank of Boston four. Boston-based USTrust is buying all 20 branches.

When the merger is finalized, the combined bank will still operate 700 branches with $40 billion in deposits and $59 billion in assets.

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