Other banks came forward as potential "white knights", including Norwest Corporation, Bank One Corporation, and First Bank System. The latter made a serious bid for First Interstate, with the two banks reaching a formal merger agreement in November valued initially at $10.3 billion. But First Bank ran into regulatory difficulties with the way it had structured its offer and was forced to bow out of the takeover battle in mid-January 1996. Talks between Wells Fargo and First Interstate then led within days to a merger agreement.Leon L. Bram (ed. dir.), 1996 Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia Yearbook, Events of 1995, p. 101. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Corporation, 1996. In January 1996, Wells Fargo announced the acquisition of First Interstate Bancorp for $11.6 billion. The newly enlarged Wells Fargo had assets of about $116 billion, loans of $72 billion, and deposits of $89 billion. It ranked as the ninth largest bank in the United States.
