Fleet-Shawmut Deal Creates `Powerhouse’

The planned takeover of Shawmut National Corp. by Fleet Financial Group Inc. will create a banking “powerhouse” ranked ninth nationwide in terms of assets, the new bank’s president said Tuesday.

But the $3.7 billion stock swap, approved Monday by the board of directors of both banks, is as much about survival in the tough new world of financial services as it is about New England’s biggest bank getting bigger

The new Fleet Financial Group will have more than $80 billion in assets and $50 billion in deposits.

“The combination is a powerhouse,” said Terrence Murray, Fleet’s president and chief executive officer.