The Wells Fargo - Wachovia Blog

Molly Murphy

In December, we told you about the rollout of the Envelope-Free ^SM ATMs in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Nevada and North Carolina.

More recently, some of our readers commented on the ATMs being upgraded in Florida  and South Carolina. 

Now, even more of you all across the country can enjoy the new ATMS! During the spring and summer, we'll be upgrading ATMs in Alabama, Connecticut, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Tennessee.

If you've used one, let us know what you think!

Henrik Meng

If you've read some of the comment responses here, you might have seen his name. If you've read other Wells Fargo blogs, his "editing fingerprints" are all over the posts — of course, you'd never know...he's just that good. (He also just edited that line.) More relevant, however, he's our newest guest blogger, Henrik Meng.

Henrik's been with Wells Fargo for a few years now and serves as the chief Editor for all of our blogs and other Social Media projects. After a little bit of peer pressure, he's decided to put down the red pen and pick up the notebook and pencil for a change of pace.

So without further ado, please welcome Henrik to the Wells Fargo-Wachovia Blog. His first interview is with Richard Henderson, who works with Wells Fargo's Corporate Real Estate group. (—Doug Caldwell)

Henrik Meng: Hey Richard, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us today.
Richard Henderson: Anytime, thanks for having me!

HM: Let's start with your title, Corporate Properties Group Director. Could you break that down for us, please? What does it mean exactly?
RH: Well, it's sort of a catch-all title. The new Wells Fargo has about 110 million square feet of domestic and international real estate, and our group oversees all of the sales and office space for the company. Basically, I coordinate the physical transition of Wachovia financial centers and office buildings to Wells Fargo, in partnership with many other teams in the company. So we do things like buy and install signs, computers, furniture, paint, and other materials — all the necessary tasks to make this transition a success for our customers and bankers. And since this is one of the most visible merger changes to our customers, we're certainly trying to minimize the disruption for everyone.

HM: Some of our readers have wondered why an integration of two companies like Wells Fargo and Wachovia takes so long. Can you tell our readers what your part of the transition entails?
RH: Well, it's definitely a lengthy process, and in some cases intentionally so! It involves getting properties ready to transition — a lot of behind-the-scenes work goes on before the customer sees any changes to one of our locations. Through it all, we're being very careful and deliberate with the changes in our products and services. We really want to make sure everything's ready for a successful re-opening of Wachovia Financial Centers as Wells Fargo banking stores.

We've had lots of time to plan, which is great for my team because changing signage takes longer than you might think. The life cycle of changing store signs can be as much as five or six months from planning to execution. And there are all sorts of things to deal with during that time, like landlord approvals, permits from municipalities, local architectural review committees...and all that happens after we decide what the scope is!

HM: What do you mean by "scope"?
RH: Well, first we survey each location to see what signs are there and go through a code review to see what the city allows. Then we'll coordinate with our Brand Management team and our bankers to decide which signs to apply and what their visibility will be. For leased locations, we work with the landlord to negotiate the kinds of signs we can install, get the necessary permits, and in some areas discuss our plans with architectural review committees. Once all of that is complete and we've secured approvals, we order our new signs, take down, patch and repair the walls where the old ones were, and finally install the new signs. So as you can see, it's quite a lengthy process! And we have to do it for every store that's transitioning, since each one has its unique needs.

HM: Wow, you weren't kidding about the process.
RH: (Laughs) Not at all. Oh, and while we're completing signage tasks, we're also making many modifications to the interior of our stores. We often add desks for additional team members and incorporate many Wells Fargo brand elements. Customers may see paint color differences, new historical murals and stagecoach art. At the same time we're changing Wachovia financial centers to Wells Fargo stores, Wachovia Securities is also going through its own transition to become Wells Fargo Advisors. All 1000 locations across the country will be complete with the brand changes in early 2010....

Matt Wadley

It's déjà vu all over again!

The American Customer Satisfaction Index  (ACSI), one of the most highly regarded independent measures of how satisfied U.S. customers are with the quality of consumer goods and services, has announced that Wells Fargo has ranked at the top in its 2009 survey of the largest U.S. retail banks. This marks the 9th consecutive year that Wachovia, now Wells Fargo, has held ACSI's top spot in retail banking!

Many of you (like Mike B., who writes "My hope is the service continues to be good or get better.") have commented on our blog and voiced your hopes that the integration of our two companies will not impact the customer service you have grown accustomed to.

Well, now that Wells Fargo and Wachovia have joined together, you can count on more than 280,000 team members in communities across the country using the same best-in-class approach that has led us to the top of ACSI's rankings for nine years in a row.

In addition to this recognition, we rely heavily on our own customers' feedback to give us a sense of how we're doing. We conduct more than 70,000 surveys each month with customers who do business in our retail stores — maybe you've participated in one. It's always our goal to understand your needs and deliver a great customer experience.

Here's some recognition we've recently received:

• The Brand Keys 2010 Customer Loyalty Engagement Index  rates Wells Fargo as the top bank.
• Wells Fargo was rated the No. 1 Bank Technology Innovator of the Year for 2009 by Bank Technology News.
• The Brookings Institution ranked wellsfargo.com No. 1 for technology innovation in 2009 among leading corporations.
• Mobile Banking earned a 2009 Gold grade from Javelin Strategy & Research.

Of course all this starts with our team members — the single biggest influence on our customers and our competitive advantage. We couldn't do it without them. Or you.

So a big "thank you" once again to all of our great customers and team members for helping make Wells Fargo #1 in customer satisfaction this year! We really look forward to the challenge of meeting — and exceeding — your service expectations and topping the ACSI survey in 2010.

Matt Wadley

Today I'd like to talk about your comments, and reiterate that we're listening to what you're telling us on the blog. In fact, we've passed along a number of comments about the pace of the integration to our senior leaders and Customer Insight team.

You might be interested to learn that, when we notice common themes to comments on the blog, we group and send them to leaders in the company to make them aware of the conversation. We also share them with our Customer Insights team, who have the ability to survey customers and get a snapshot about how they feel on a particular subject — in this case, the pace of the integration.

While we've heard that many of you want things to go faster, they found 60% of the customers surveyed were satisfied with the pace of the integration, while 36% were neutral. Just 4% said they were not satisfied.

Why are we blogging about this? Well, because we take what you tell us seriously and are escalating your comments. So if there's something related to the integration you have a question or comment about, please continue to let us know.

I can't guarantee we'll do a survey on the feedback, but I can assure you that we here on the blog — and others around the company — are listening and ready to help!

Doug Caldwell

Have you heard? Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC (the advisor to the Wells Fargo Advantage Funds®), and its affiliate, Evergreen Investment Management Company, LLC (the advisor to the Evergreen Funds), have recently proposed changes to their mutual fund product offerings.

If you missed the announcement, head to their Integration News Center for additional details.

Not FDIC Insured   •   No Bank Guarantee   •   May Lose Value

Carefully consider a fund's investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. For a current prospectus containing this and other information, visit www.evergreeninvestments.com for Evergreen Funds and www.wellsfargo.com/advantagefunds for Wells Fargo Advantage Funds. Read the prospectus carefully before investing.

The Funds are distributed by Wells Fargo Funds Distributor, LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC, an affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company.

© 2010 Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC. All rights reserved.

Matt Wadley

As Ann Marie blogged in Tuesday's announcement about our local charity grants in Arizona and Nevada, today we're excited to share the results for our charitable donations in California and Illinois!

To quickly recap, Wells Fargo has been sending Wachovia customers in converting states a What to Expect packet with a general overview of the integration (happening in March for Illinois customers and in April for California customers) and an invitation to help choose the nonprofits in their state to receive one of the grants. The response from our customers in California and Illinois was overwhelming — we received over 47,000 ballots!

Here's how it works: Wells Fargo is giving $25,000 to the nonprofit receiving the largest number of votes, $15,000 to the second-place vote-getter, $10,000 to the third-place organization and $5,000 each to the two remaining groups. Due to California's size and the company's significant presence there, voting was broken into seven different regions within the state.

And now without further ado, here are the recipient nonprofit organizations and the amounts of the grants...

Ann Marie Quinn

While the weather might be cold where you live, things are heating up for some local non-profit organizations in Arizona and Nevada.

As we announced earlier, Arizona, California, Illinois and Nevada are the next states to convert. And as we did with Colorado, Wells Fargo sent a What to Expect mailing to Wachovia customers in those states that provided a general overview of the March integration. This mailing also invited customers to help choose the charitable organizations that would receive a grant as a show of support and commitment to the communities we serve.

Well, in the two states we're announcing today, Arizona and Nevada, over 6,000 Wachovia customers cast their ballots! (Come back soon to find out who was selected in California and Illinois.)

Based on that overwhelming response, we're excited today to announce grants totaling $120,000 to 10 charities — five in each state! The grants are part of a broader 2010 integration-related charitable effort to provide more than $1 million to organizations serving people in need.

The five Arizona charities who will receive Wells Fargo grants are:

• Association of Arizona Food Banks ($25,000)
• American Cancer Society – Arizona Chapter ($15,000)
• Habitat for Humanity of Central Arizona ($10,000)
• Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Central Arizona ($5,000)
• Special Olympics Arizona ($5,000)

The five Nevada charities who will receive Wells Fargo grants are:

• Three Square Food Bank of Southern Nevada Chapters ($25,000)
• Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Las Vegas and Northern Nevada Chapters ($15,000)
• Habitat for Humanity – Las Vegas, Inc. and Truckee Meadows Chapters ($10,000)
• United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra and Southern Nevada Chapters ($5,000)
• Junior Achievement of Northern and Southern Nevada Chapters ($5,000)

We salute these groups (and many others) for the great work they do every day to help their communities. Don't forget, please check back soon for the California and Illinois winners!

Doug Caldwell

Hey blog readers, the new integration newsletters have been posted!

If you've been following along here on the blog, you probably know most all the info in them already, but we wanted to make sure you were aware that they're out there for you.

Oh, and we also have Spanish versions available to read online as well.

All of you, our Wells Fargo and Wachovia customers, will begin to see these newsletters enclosed with their statements — unless, of course, you've gone paperless (thank you!). In which case, just click on the respective pics below.

 

Molly Murphy

We know you've had a lot of opinions and questions about the pace of the integration. Well, thestreet.com posted an article just last week that may interest you.

Take a look, and as always, please let us know what you think!

Wayne Thompson

Assistant Los Angeles Treasurer Crista Binder is ecstatic about the virtual treasury system Wachovia and Wells Fargo built for the city of Los Angeles...and about the more than $5.5 million the system has saved the city of Los Angeles to date.

Gone are the days of paper reports stacked to the ceiling and cashiers hand-entering hundreds of deposit records from multiple agencies into a central bank account through a 20-year-old general ledger mainframe computer system.

Using the Wells Fargo Electronic Deposit^SM service and a host of other products, employees of more than 15 city departments now transmit deposits with a few clicks. Wireless terminals at Los Angeles International Airport now send credit card payments instantly, saving parking lot attendants 400 hours of work.

Binder's favorite benefit: being able to create separate accounts for each of the city's 42 businesses instead of running all activity through one account. The system is helping the city "go green" by eliminating thousands of paper statements, returned checks, and paper lockbox documents. It's even saving residents the $4.95 fee they used to be charged for electronic utility payments now that the city can provide the service itself instead of using a vendor.

"Our story now is one of efficiency, reduced risk, and transparency," Binder says. "Departments can get daily online statements and reports over the city's intranet and gain seamless entry to multiple billing systems. It's a whole new world that has allowed us to go from being a clerical function to being recognized as an essential partner and advisor in the financial activities of the city."

Wells Fargo's Lynn Love and Wachovia's Corrie Bowman came together to make it happen....