In late December 2008, shareholders of Wells Fargo and Wachovia agreed to Wells Fargo’s offer to buy Wachovia for $11.8 billion. Beginning January 1, 2009, Wachovia Bank became part of Wells Fargo.  A bailout bank bio for Wachovia can be found here.

Wells Fargo & Co.

Wells Fargo & Company is a financial holding company and a bank holding company. The Company provides retail, commercial and corporate banking services through banking stores located in 23 states. It is the product of the merger of Norwest Corporation and the former Wells Fargo &Company, completed on November 2, 1998. On completion of the merger, Norwest Corporation changed its name to Wells Fargo & Company. In October 2000, Wells Fargo acquired First Security Corporation, a $23 billion bank holding company in a transaction valued at $3 billion. In late December 2008, shareholders of Wells Fargo and Wachovia agreed to Wells Fargo’s offer to buy Wachovia for $11.8 billion. Beginning January 1, 2009, Wachovia Bank became part of Wells Fargo (.pdf). Wells Fargo’s headquarters are located in San Francisco, California.

In late October 2008, Wells Fargo entered into an agreement with the Treasury Department to participate in its Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Under the program, Wells Fargo received $25 billion in exchange for preferred stock. A recent analysis (.pdf – chart, p. 7) by the group charged with overseeing TARP, the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) put the value of the Wells Fargo stock held by Treasury at $23.2 billion.

Wells Fargo initially declined to purchase Wachovia. But after the Treasury Department issued a controversial ruling, Wells Fargo changed its mind. The ruling allows banks that purchase other banks experiencing losses due to bad loans, to count those losses against their profits – reducing the purchasing bank’s tax liability. Wachovia had a $23 billion third-quarter loss in 2008.

►Federal contracts

USAspending.gov (last accessed 03/30/2009)

►Lobbying reports (if any)

►Political Contributions

Center for Responsive Politics  (Last Accessed 02/12/2009).

►Related Articles

February 13, 2009 Wachovia Won’t See Many Changes During Merger (iStockAnalyst)

February 10, 2009 UPDATE: Banks Drop On Lack Of Detail In Geithner’s Remarks (Wall Street Jounral)

February 10, 2009 Bulls Forgoing Wells Fargo (Barron’s)

February 10, 2009 EDITORIAL: Banks need lesson in waste not, want not (TradingMarkets.com)

February 10, 2009 The “AIG Effect” and Corporate Travel (BNET)

February 9, 2009 Following The Bailout Money To Wells Fargo (CBS News)

February 9, 2009 Wells Fargo calls junket stories ‘nonsense’ (St. Louis Business Journal)

February 6, 2009 Wells Fargo May Cut Loans for Some Wachovia Customers (Update1)
(Bloomberg)

February 5, 2009 Balance-sheet doubts still weighing on Wells Fargo shares (LA Times)

January 29, 2009 Will Wells Fargo Regret Buying Wachovia? (Forbes)

December 23, 2008 Wells Fargo, Wachovia shareholders approve deal (Yahoo Finance)

Resources

Bank Bio Chart  | Financial Documents | Federal contracts

Lobbying reports |  Political Contributions | Related Articles

Bailout Bank Bio: Wachovia Corporation

WACHOVIA CORP 10Q 3rd qtr 2008

WACHOVIA CORP Citigroup Failed Merger 8K

WACHOVIA CORP 10K 2007

►Federal contracts

USAspending.gov (last accessed 03/30/2009)

►Lobbying reports (if any)

►Political Contributions

Center for Responsive Politics  (Last Accessed 02/12/2009).

►Related Articles

 Last Updated March 30, 2009