Bank of America Corp., the third- largest U.S. bank, plans to buy FleetBoston Financial Corp. for $47 billion in stock, the Boston Globe reported, citing unidentified executives.

Bank of America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, will pay $45 a share for FleetBoston, about 40 percent more than Friday's closing price, the Globe said. Bank of America Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Lewis will be CEO of the combined bank. FleetBoston's CEO, Chad Gifford, will be chairman, the Globe said.

``Mergers and acquisitions in the banking industry are back on the agenda,'' said Olaf Conrad, who helps manage $14.5 billion at HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt in Dusseldorf.

The purchase of FleetBoston, the seventh-biggest U.S. bank by assets, would be the largest takeover since Pfizer Inc.'s $60.3 billion acquisition of Pharmacia Corp., a transaction announced in July 2002, according to Bloomberg data.

FleetBoston, based in Boston, was advised on the transaction by Morgan Stanley, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. worked with Bank of America, the Globe reported.

Lee McEntire, an investor relations officer at Bank of America in Charlotte, said he hasn't heard anything about the transaction and wouldn't comment further. William Fall, the London-based head of Bank of America's international operations, couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Bank of America spokeswoman Rhiannedd Jones in London declined to comment.

FleetBoston spokesman James Mahoney wasn't immediately available to comment.