EU clears Credit Agricole's purchase of Belgium's Degroof Petercam

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Monday that it had cleared Credit Agricole's plan to buy Degroof Petercam in a deal valuing the Belgian firm at 1.5 billion euros ($1.64 billion), saying the deal did not raise any competition issues.

"The Commission came to the conclusion that the merger would not raise any competition issues given the limited positions of the parties involved on the market that will result from the planned deal," the EU executive arm said in a statement.

Announced in August, alongside its second-quarter results, the purchase of Degroof Petercam will increase the scope of Credit Agricole's - France's second-largest bank - wealth management subsidiary Indosuez by roughly 50%.

($1 = 0.9167 euros)

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout,)