The battle for Wachovia Corp. rages on, with Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. angling for the biggest share of their target's $448 billion in low-cost deposits. One option in the Fed-brokered negotiations would split Wachovia in two, with Citigroup taking control of Wachovia branches in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic and Wells Fargo taking the rest.
A breakup of Wachovia is far from certain, but should it come about, untangling the branches and brokerages will be difficult. And any missteps could lead to customer defections. Wachovia has built its brand on highly personal customer service and has in recent years worked to tightly integrate its retail banking and brokerage services. As the
Charlotte Observer reports, the company's businesses operate off a single technology platform, allowing customers to manage all their accounts through a single point of contact. There may also be significant costs for Citi and Wells Fargo should they choose to re-brand and reconfigure Wachovia branches.
Of course, Wachovia employees and Charlotte business boosters are lobbying hard against a carve up, which could result in big cuts to the bank's 20,000-strong local work force. Instead, some employees at least are hoping Wells Fargo will buy Wachovia outright. California-based Wells Fargo had promised to make Charlotte its East Coast retail, commercial and corporate banking headquarters.
"Citi is being bratty," one Wachovia employee told the paper. "They're throwing a tantrum and they need to get over it." - Suzanne Stevens
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