CHARLOTTE, N.C. - First Union Corp. and Wachovia Corp. have named the executives who would oversee the combined core banking operations once First Union closes its deal this fall to buy Wachovia.
In the first management announcement since the deal was unveiled April 16, the companies (which would adopt the Wachovia name) said they would divide their combined retail bank into six regions. And as was the case with their board and top-level executive appointments, the regional executive jobs are to be split evenly between the two companies.
Benjamin P. Jenkins 3d, vice chairman and head of First Union's general bank, had already been designated to run the general banking operation. Stanhope A. Kelly, general bank chief at Wachovia, of Winston-Salem, N.C., is to oversee the combined bank's wealth management division.
All three of Wachovia's current regional leaders would have similar jobs after the acquisition. Virginia chief executive Jim Cherry would oversee an expanded mid-Atlantic region to include Washington, Maryland, and Virginia. D. Gary Thompson, now in charge of its Florida and Georgia retail operations, is to oversee Georgia, and Carolinas chief executive Will Spence would keep his title.
First Union's Reggie Davis would remain head of the Atlantic region, which includes Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Bob Helms would remain head of Florida, and Bob Reid is to continue overseeing the Pennsylvania-Delaware region. The changes would leave two First Union executives unassigned - Mac Everett, who currently oversees the Carolinas and Georgia, and Hugh Long, who runs the Virginia-Maryland-Washington market. A First Union spokeswoman said it was too early to say what would happen to them.
Christopher Marinac, a banking analyst at Robinson-Humphrey Co. in Atlanta, said Wachovia's general bank would be a marriage of two operations with slightly different strategies.
First Union has focused largely on restoring customer confidence after troubles with previous acquisitions and a failed branch modernization project several years ago, he said.
Wachovia, meanwhile, has been trying to use its retail bank to cross-sell investment and wealth management products to 400,000 customers it defines as "affluent," Mr. Marinac said. "Wachovia was getting better at mining those, slowly but surely. But we haven't really seen huge results yet."
