Fed approves Santander buy of Sovereign

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it had approved Spain's Banco Santander's purchase of Philadelphia-based Sovereign Bancorp Inc SOV.N.

Europe's largest bank in October announced the $1.9 billion all-stock purchase of the 75.65 percent of Sovereign that it did not already own.

The deal also gives Santander ownership of its subsidiary federal savings bank Sovereign Bank of Wyomissing, Penn., the Fed said in a statement.

(Reporting by Alister Bull; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)