Fleet, a Boston concern that is the ninth-largest bank in the country, and Sanwa, which is based in Osaka, both declined to comment on the transaction.

After completion of the deal, Fleet would be the country's ninth-largest bank, with more than $80 billion in assets.

If completed, the deal would create Europe's ninth-largest bank.

Many analysts say that the boom is far from over, and that Mercantile's sizable market share gives it particular allure, even as it becomes the ninth-largest bank in the Midwest.

Monday's deal will help Santander, the world's ninth-largest bank, with 10,000 branches, continue to diversify and move away from risky markets.

The $3.7 billion deal would create the nation's ninth-largest bank.

BNP Paribas is among the largest banks in Europe by market value and the ninth-largest bank in the world.

Before the I.M.F. assistance was announced at a news conference this morning in Ankara, the capital, Turkish regulators seized Demirbank, the ninth-largest bank in Turkey.

First Interstate, the nation's ninth-largest bank holding company, with $52.1 billion in assets, owns 23 banks in 12 Western states.

Fleet Financial, the nation's ninth-largest bank, faced charges of discriminatory lending practices in its lending units before.