Chase Manhattan Corp. to purchase J.P. Morgan

The Federal Reserve on Monday approved Chase Manhattan Corp.’s $35.2 billion purchase of investment bank J.P. Morgan, a deal uniting two of Wall Street’s oldest names to create one of the nation’s biggest banking companies. THE VOTE WAS 4-0 by the central bank’s board of governors, who determined that the merger would not threaten competition. The merger, announced in September, is expected to be completed within the first three months of next year. Approval by the New York State Banking Department is still pending. The U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission gave their approval several weeks ago. Chase and J.P. Morgan, both based in New York City, have scheduled votes by their shareholders for Dec. 22. The combined company will be called J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. It will have about $668 billion in assets, rivaling Bank of America Corp., with about $679 billion in assets, as the second-largest bank holding company in the United States. It will trail Citigroup, which had $791 billion in assets as of June 30.