January 2, 2009

Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. completed acquisitions of three rivals this week as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression continues to roil and reshape the U.S. banking industry.All three acquirers are expected to cut jobs as they digest their pickups.

The $19.36 billion purchase of Wall Street securities firm Merrill Lynch & Co. on Thursday capped the rise of Bank of America, of Charlotte, N.C., to the title of largest U.S. bank by assets, with $2.7 trillion.It now is bigger than J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., of New York, which added to its heft in 2008 with the purchase of Washington Mutual Inc.'s failed banking operations, and Citigroup Inc., also of New York.