Wachovia Bank
If you had been to North California, you’ll probably find a corporate tower in Charlotte with a huge sign that says Wachovia. If you’re not a local, you’ll probably find the word absurd for a bank name. How could such a name like Wachovia be used as a bank identity?
But yes, Wachovia Bank does exist; in fact it’s been around for nearly a century. Wachovia Bank is owned and operated by the Wachovia Bank Corporation based in Charlotte. Considered to be one of America’s longest financial services chains, Wachovia Bank offers a wide spectrum of financial products and services like asset management, banking, investment and corporate services. It joins the ranks of some of the most prominent brands in the US banking industry. Wachovia runs bank centers in more than twenty States from California to Connecticut.
It also conducts retail brokerage activities with corporate clients in the US and Hispanic markets outside the country through the Wachovia Securities. Wachovia Banks are spread internationally and are represented by 40 satellite offices world wide.
Wachovia is exotic to be used as a corporate name. But it’s been serving the company well for many years now. Wachovia is read as wah – ko – vee – yah. But it is often misread as wah – cho – vee – yah. The term refers to a place in North Carolina and has Latin origins. The name actually comes from the root word Wachau which denotes river. The earliest settlers in North Carolina called a piece of land in Bethabara which now lies between Winston Salem and Forsyth County. The word Wachau later evolved to Wachovia and the rest they say is history.
Wachovia Bank today has more than $719.9 billion in assets, more than $413.7 billion of total deposits and $69.3 billion of stockholder’s equity. Wachovia’s overall ranking in the United States in terms of bank holding is number four. The company is number 3 among the largest brokerage companies in the United States that offer full service to client assets. The company serves more than thirteen million business and personal clients, holds over twelve million online services and product registrants and caters to more than four million active users of their online services. Wachovia is an employer of over 110,000 workers. It offers personalized advice and service through its more than three thousand financial service offices and over seven hundred retail brokerage centers. The company takes pride of more than 5000 automated teller machine sites across its markets.
Wachovia Bank locations are found in Washington DC, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Nevada, Mississippi, Maryland, Kansas, Illinois, Georgia, Florida, Delaware, Connecticut, Colorado, California, Arizona and Alabama.
The Wachovia Bank online business service is just few of the company’s most valued offerings. Its complete line of products and services include the following: home equity lending, mortgage banking, auto dealership finance, trust services, check card product, credit card products, international banking, investment banking, corporate banking, expertise in financial resources and treasury services, innovative products for private individuals, wealth management, asset management and retail brokerage.
The company’s important subsidiaries are the Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC, Wachovia Securities, LLC, Wachovia Mortgage and Wachovia Bank, NA. Wachovia is lead by the industry’s top corporate moguls. G. Kenney Thompson is the present Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board. Thomas J. Wurtz, on the other hand, is the Chief Financial Officer.
There are two predecessors of Wachovia Bank. Each company has a long standing banking experience. The First Union Bank of Charlotte, established in 1908 and the original Wachovia Company of Winston, North Carolina which was established in 1879 consolidated to form the new Wachovia Corporation in September of 2001, just over a week before the World Trade Center incident. Although it was a huge challenge to operate in a post 9-11 tragedy, the company persevered and pulled off.