Former Commerce Capital Markets CEO Joins Wachovia Wealth Management

Industry Veteran Stan Gregor to Lead Transformational Move Up-Market CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wachovia, the fifth-largest U.S. wealth manager, has named Stan Gregor, an executive with morethan 20 years of experience in banking, wealth management, assetmanagement, investment banking, trust and brokerage services, president ofits Wealth Markets division in Wachovia Wealth Management. He will lead thegroup serving the market niche focusing on clients with $10 million in networth and/or $5 million to $50 million in investable assets. The focus onhigher net worth clients follows on the heels of Wachovia's recentannouncement that its new Wealth Management Private Banking group will bededicated to clients with $250,000 to $5 million. Gregor comes to Wachovia from Commerce Bancorp, where he served thepast two years as president and chief executive officer of Commerce CapitalMarkets Inc. In that position, he led wealth management, institutionaltrading and sales, structured finance, investment banking, derivatives,trust services, brokerage and asset management. While at Commerce, Gregorwas instrumental in the acquisition of Starboard Financial and eMoneyAdvisor. Before joining Commerce in 2005, Gregor was president and CEO of Bankof America/Fleet Boston's Brokerage and Wealth Management Division, Quick &Reilly. During his tenure, Gregor transformed Quick & Reilly from adiscount broker to a full-service financial services company. For most ofhis career, Gregor has worked in New York, including nine years withCitigroup, where he held several key executive leadership positions andultimately became Northeast Investment Executive Vice President. Gregor will be based in Charlotte, reporting to Stan Kelly, presidentof Wachovia Wealth Management. He will lead 28 regional teams from Bostonto Miami and west to Texas. These relationship teams will work closely withother Wachovia wealth advisors to deliver credit, personal trust,investment advisory services, charitable services and insurance brokerageto high net worth clients, their families and businesses. He succeeds LindaBowden, who retired June 30. Gregor also is responsible for the financial planning group, one of thelargest intra-company financial planning groups in the wealth industrytoday. Financial Planning has more than 100 professionals located inregions across the Wachovia franchise. "Stan Gregor's multifaceted career and dynamic leadership will serve uswell as we aggressively expand our Wealth Management business," Kelly said."We have honed our wealth management platform to reach a new high in clientloyalty and are eager to embrace new clients and deepen our relationshipwith existing ones." Growth in the number of U.S. households with $250,000 to $5 million ininvestable assets is projected to increase 30 percent from 14 million in2005 to 18 million by 2010. The number of households with $5 million ormore in investable assets is projected to increase 55 percent from 190,000in 2005 to 294,000 in 2010. "Wachovia has one of the most comprehensive and client focused wealthmanagement platforms within our industry. The mutual inclusive focus onproviding the advisors and their clients with some of the best solutionsgives us a significant advantage," Gregor said. "With the backing of thenation's fourth-largest bank behind us and Wachovia's leading reputation incustomer service, we have a tremendous opportunity to win new market shareand serve our high-net-worth client with excellence. I'm very excited tolead this business." Wachovia's family office, Calibre, will focus on clients with $50million or more, up from $25 million. Existing clients of Calibre andWachovia Wealth Management will not be impacted by the changes in thresholdfor each division; they will continue to be served as they are today. ABOUT WACHOVIA Wachovia Corporation (NYSE: WB) is the 5th largest wealth manager inthe country, according to Barron's 2006 ranking of U.S. Wealth Managers.Wachovia is one of the nation's largest diversified financial servicescompanies, with assets of $719.9 billion and market capitalization of $97.5billion at June 30, 2007. Wachovia provides a broad range of retail bankingand brokerage, asset and wealth management, and corporate and investmentbanking products and services to 13 million household and businesscustomers. Wachovia has 3,400 retail financial centers in 21 states fromConnecticut to Florida and west to Texas and California, and nationwideretail brokerage, mortgage lending and auto finance businesses. Globally,clients are served in selected corporate and institutional sectors andthrough more than 40 international offices. Our retail brokerage operationsunder the Wachovia Securities brand name manage more than $795 billion inclient assets through approximately 10,800 registered representatives in774 offices in 48 states and through service affiliate offices in LatinAmerica. Online banking is available at wachovia.com; online brokerageproducts and services at wachoviasec.com; and investment products andservices at evergreeninvestments.com. In May 2007, Wachovia announced an agreement to acquire A.G. Edwards,Inc., a financial services holding company whose primary subsidiary is thenational investment firm of A.G. Edward & Sons, Inc. A.G. Edwards and itsaffiliates employ 6,623 financial consultants in 741 offices nationwide andtwo European locations in London and Geneva. This proposed acquisition isexpected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2007, pending theapproval of A.G. Edwards shareholders and applicable regulatory approvals.