Hearing Planned On Competing Bank Bids

The Federal Reserve plans public hearings this month on competing proposals by First Bank System Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. to acquire First Interstate Bancorp in the biggest banking merger in history.

Wells Fargo & Co. has made a hostile bid for the 14th-largest banking company valued at $10.83 billion. First Interstate already has agreed to a friendly offer valued at $10.23 billion from First Bank System Inc.

Whichever offer is accepted by First Interstate shareholders will rank as the biggest merger deal in history.

The Fed said Thursday the purpose of hearings will be to collect information about the bids’ effect on “the convenience and needs of the communities to be served, including the records of performance of the institutions under the Community Reinvestment Act.”

Simultaneous hearings will be held Jan. 22 and 23 at the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and at the regional Fed bank’s headquarters in San Francisco.

The first day’s hearings will focus on the Wells Fargo application, the second on the First Bank System bid.