Bank Of New England

Bank of New England Corp. said today that it agreed to sell most of Bank of New England-Old Colony, its Rhode Island subsidiary, to Citizens Financial Group of Rhode Island for $75 million. The deal, which requires the approval of federal regulators, is the last big step in the Bank of New England's effort to boost its capital and to restructure and trim its operations.

Government deposits were used to help the failing Bank of New England, while deposit cuts at a troubled Harlem-based bank may have contributed to its failure, according to a published report. In March, the Treasury Department stopped its practice of keeping as much as $300 million of income-tax withholding payments at Freedom National Bank, the New York Times reported Tuesday.