On the end of Wachovia

And so it is official. Wells Fargo owns Wachovia, and Charlotte is left with one big bank. In advance of the shareholder vote, the Wall Street Journal had this. Two standout passages:  

"Only one of 11 senior officers in the combined Wells-Wachovia will be from Wachovia and a longtime Wells executive will be in charge of the bank's eastern region, exacerbating local tensions about a loss of control and influence in 2009. Wells CEO John Stumpf told Wachovia employees earlier this year that he could make "no promises."

and

"Wachovia's sale to Wells also ends the scrappy crosstown Charlotte bank competition that played a key role in reshaping retail banking across the U.S. for more than two decades. But Bank of America Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis now views Wells Fargo as a tougher competitor than Wachovia, according to people familiar with his thinking."

Also, it's worth revisiting this essay, "Wachovia, We Miss You Already," by Ken Allen that we published in the November issue. And Allen has a piece in the new January issue in which he suggests how Charlotte can get its mojo back (hint: Think Different, as Steve Jobs might say.)