Wachovia , based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is a diversified, wholly owned financial services subsidiary of Wells Fargo. As an independent company, it was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States based on total assets.
The purchase of Wachovia Corporation by Wells Fargo was completed on December 31, 2008. Wells Fargo purchased Wachovia after a government-forced sale to avoid a failure of Wachovia.
Starting in 2009, the Wachovia brand will be absorbed into the Wells Fargo brand in a process that was initially estimated to last three years. In July 2009, Wachovia Securities became Wells Fargo Advisors. The merger of Wells Fargo and Wachovia bank charters is scheduled for completion in March 2010.
Business lines
Wachovia provides a broad range of banking, asset management, wealth management, and corporate and investment banking products and services. It is one of the largest providers of financial services in the United States, operating financial centers in 21 states and Washington, D.C., with locations from Connecticut to Florida and west to California. Wachovia provides global services through more than 40 offices around the world.
It served retail brokerage clients under the name Wachovia Securities nationwide as well as in six Latin American countries, and investment banking clients in selected industries nationwide. In 2009, Wachovia Securities was the first Wachovia business to be converted to the Wells Fargo brand, when the business became Wells Fargo Advisors. Wachovia also operates Calibre, its wealth management services to ultra-high net worth families with net worth exceeding $25 million.
The company's corporate and institutional capital markets and investment banking groups operate under the Wachovia Securities brand, while its asset management group operates under the Evergreen Investments brand.
Corporate history
Wachovia Corporation was originally created by the merger of the legacy Wachovia Corporation and First Union Corporation. First Union was considered the acquirer in the transaction with Wachovia, although the transaction was structured as a tax-free union of equals and the combined entity chose to retain the Wachovia name.
Origin of corporate name
Main article: Wachovia, North CarolinaWachovia (pronounced /wəˈkoʊviə/ wə--vee-ə ) has its origins in the Latin form of the Austrian name Wachau . When Moravian settlers arrived in Bethabara, North Carolina, in 1753, they gave this name to the land they acquired, because it resembled the Wachau valley along the Danube River. The area formerly known as Wachovia now makes up most of Forsyth County, and the largest city is now Winston-Salem.
First Union
First Union Corporation was founded as Queen City National Bank on June 2, 1908, a small banking desk in the lobby of a Charlotte hotel by H.M. Victor.
The bank merged with First National Bank and Trust Company of Asheville in 1958 to become First Union National Bank of North Carolina. First Union Corporation was incorporated in 1967. Other Predecessor companies include the Bank of North America, the first bank proposed, chartered and incorporated in America on December 31, 1781.
As part of a corporate reorganization in 1968, a predecessor of First Union National Bank and First Union Mortgage Corporation, a mortgage banking firm acquired in 1964 became subsidiaries of First Union Corp creating the structure the bank utilized until the 2001 merger.
Starting in 1985, with the Supreme Court decision upholding regional interstate banking legislation, First Union focused on an aggressive growth strategy and from 1985 through the merger with Wachovia in 2001, First Union completed over 90 banking-related acquisitions, 50 of which were completed between 1985 and 1995.
CoreStates
In April 1998, First Union acquired CoreStates Financial Corporation, headquartered in Philadelphia. At the time, this was the largest merger in US banking history.
Core States traced its history to 1781 and the Bank of North America, the first bank chartered in the United States. Once the merger was accomplished, First Union began to claim 1781 as its founding date. Wachovia still operates The Bank of North America's first branch, opened in 1782, which is now the longest continuously operated branch in America.
The acquisition of Core States brought problems with it. Many of these problems arose when First Union attempted a too rapid integration of CoreStates' systems into First Union's. Initially, CoreStates tellers received insufficient training with the new systems and the two systems were unable to communicate with each other. This led to problems with account access and with payments not being correctly applied to loans.
The Money Store
On June 30 , 1998 , First Union paid $2.1 billion for The Money Store by Rorich ford, a loan outfit known for their commercials featuring Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop Phil Rizzuto and pitcher Jim Palmer. Two years later, it closed the unit, writing off $1.7 billion.
Legacy Wachovia
Legacy Wachovia Corporation began in 1879 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina as the Wachovia National Bank. In 1911, the bank merged with Wachovia Loan and Trust, which had been founded in 1893. Wachovia grew to become one of the largest banks in the Southeast partly on the strength of its accounts from the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, which was also headquartered in Winston-Salem. On December 12 , 1986 , Wachovia purchased First Atlanta. Founded as Atlanta National Bank on September 14, 1865, and later renamed to First National Bank of Atlanta, this institution was the oldest national bank in Atlanta. This purchase made legacy Wachovia one of the few companies with dual headquarters: one in Winston-Salem and one in Atlanta. In 1998, legacy Wachovia acquired two Virginia-based banks, Jefferson National Bank and Central Fidelity Bank. In 1997, Wachovia acquired both 1st United Bancorp and American Bankshares Inc, giving its first entry into Florida. In 2000, legacy Wachovia made its final purchase, which was Republic Security Bank. Legacy Wachovia ceased to exist when First Union purchased the company in 2001.
Merger of First Union and Wachovia
On April 16 , 2001 , Charlotte-based First Union Corporation announced it would merge with Winston-Salem based Wachovia Corporation. As an important part of the deal, First Union would shed its name and assumed the Wachovia identity and stock ticker (NYSE: WB).
This merger was viewed with great surprise by the financial press and security analysts. While Wachovia had been viewed as an acquisition candidate after running into problems with earnings and credit quality in 2000, the suitor shocked analysts as many speculated that Wachovia would be sold to SunTrust.
The deal met with skepticism and criticism. Analysts, remembering the problems with the CoreStates acquisition, were concerned First Union's ability to merge with another large company. Winston-Salem's citizens and politicians suffered a blow to their civic pride because Wachovia's corporate headquarters would move to Charlotte, a larger city than Winston-Salem. The city of Winston-Salem was concerned both by job losses and the loss of stature from losing a major corporate headquarters. First Union was concerned by the potential deposit attrition and customer loss in the city. First Union responded to these concerns by placing the wealth management and Carolinas-region headquarters in Winston-Salem.
On May 14, 2001, Atlanta-based SunTrust announced a rival takeover bid for Wachovia, the first hostile takeover attempt in the banking sector in many years. In its effort to make the deal appeal to investors, SunTrust argued that it would provide a smoother transition than First Union and offered a higher cash price for Wachovia stock than First Union.
Wachovia's board of directors rejected SunTrust's offer and supported the merger with First Union. SunTrust continued its hostile takeover attempt, leading to a bitter battle over the summer between SunTrust and First Union. Both banks increased their offers for Wachovia, took out newspaper ads, mailed letters to shareholders, and initiated court battles to challenge each other's takeover bids. On August 3 , 2001 , Wachovia shareholders approved the First Union deal, rejecting SunTrust's attempts to elect a new board of directors for Wachovia and ending SunTrust's hostile takeover attempt.
Another problem concerned each bank's credit card division. In April 2001, Wachovia agreed to sell its $8 billion credit c
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