In Brief: Fed Approves Wells, UniCredito Purchases

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve Board approved two acquisitions on Monday.

Wells Fargo & Co. got the go-ahead to buy Brenton Banks of Des Moines, the fifth-largest commercial bank in Iowa, with $2 billion of assets. Wells, already the largest commercial banking company in the state, would control about $5.7 billion of deposits upon acquiring Brenton, which has deposits of $1.5 billion.

The Fed also approved Milan-based UniCredito Italiano's purchase of the Pioneer Group, a Boston-based financial and investment services provider.

UniCredito, with $180 billion of assets, has a branch in New York City and offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. It is the second-largest banking organization in Italy and the 54th largest in the world.

Pioneer has $24 billion of assets under management.

The purchase allows UniCredito to provide investment advisory, securities brokerage, and mutual fund administrative services.

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