Wachovia, Wells Fargo and Citigroup have agreed to a standstill of all formal litigation activity -- a sign that the three banks and the Federal Reserve are working feverishly to reach an agreement over Wachovia's fate.

The standstill agreement will end at noon Wednesday, unless extended.

Early last week, Citigroup agreed to buy Wachovia's banking assets for 2.1 billion dollars in a deal brokered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Then on Friday, Wells Fargo announced it had agreed to acquire Wachovia in a deal worth 15.1 billion at the time.

Federal Reserve officials have been in talks with Wells Fargo and Citigroup in the hope of getting the parties to come to some sort of agreement, according to a person with knowledge of the talks.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter.

Wachovia is the fourth-largest bank in Colorado in terms of deposits and has 34 offices in the state, compared with more than 100 offices for Wells Fargo -- Colorado's largest bank.

Citigroup's Citibank owns several ATMs in Colorado, but does not currently operate branch bank locations within the state.