Everyone's heard the old saying: "Good things come to those who wait." But let's be honest, if given the opportunity, not many us would ever choose to wait. We live in a culture of instant gratification where the news is 24/7, our popcorn gets microwaved in minutes, and the Internet puts the world at our fingertips. So when two of America's largest financial institutions join together, it's only natural for us to expect to see immediate changes.
However, as we've mentioned, there's a lot more to it than just flipping a switch. There are tens of thousands of Wachovia and Wells Fargo team members strategizing how to integrate our two companies with minimal impact to the customer experience. Two of them, Wachovia's Steve Boehm and Wells Fargo's Pat Callahan, are leading the Merger Integration Team. Steve took some time out of his undoubtedly triple-booked schedule to offer his perspective on how the integration is going and what you can expect in the future from the new Wells Fargo.
Lately, many of our team members who work directly with customers are hearing a consistent question from their clients: "How is the merger going?" Given the amount of media attention the merger has received ("The biggest merger ever in financial services" is often the description they use) — not to mention the comments we are seeing here on the blog — it's no surprise all of you are wondering.
As part of the team that's planning the way Wells Fargo and Wachovia will be combined, I thought you might be interested in how we're doing the work — after all, bringing two companies together is a really complex thing to do. While that may seem pretty obvious, it's even more so in the case of our two companies because of the breadth of services we offer to our customers, and the intense focus and pride we take in serving you well.
So what sorts of things are we thinking about when we look at our merger work? Well for starters, we know we need to combine our computer systems, retrain tens of thousands of our team members to support new products and expanded businesses, as well as combine the way the two organizations think and work into ONE TEAM.
All these are real challenges for sure, but they are not our overall objective. That is to bring about those (and other required) changes in a very carefully orchestrated way — a way that allows all of us to be properly prepared so we can continue to serve and work with you as we move forward.
It's really about you, the customer: Our goal is to anticipate how each and every customer will be affected by our integration plans and to communicate simply and frequently with you to avoid uncertainty or confusion. We're really trying to be proactive, placing a premium on eliminating any and all potential integration-related issues before they happen.
What does this mean for the teams working on the merger? Honestly, a LOT of careful planning before we even think about making any changes. That's exactly what hundreds of people at Wells Fargo and Wachovia have been doing since early October. Once our detailed planning work is complete, we'll begin focusing on executing our plan. While we could do it relatively quickly, we couldn't do it in the seamless way we want to for you and our fellow team members.
What does that mean for you exactly? Pretty much any changes you might see will occur gradually. Some of you will see little or no change — others will see a bit more. In the end, our plans need to address each and every one of our customers based on your banking or brokerage relationship with us. And doing that well is Job Number One for all of us.
In the meantime, thanks so much for your continued business and all of your patience. And be sure to keep reading the blog for any new news and info about our transition!
I was and am an AG Edwards client and I cannot believe the degree of incompetance I have observed during that merger, I just got my "new statement" what a joke. How long will it take for you to eliminate AGE and their account handlers and how will you prune out the Wachovia types - who are perhaps not much better. Please contact me.
Give us more security on our accounts. I would like to have securid support oe VeriSign VIP support. MODERATOR'S NOTE: Just so you know, we removed a URL from this comment in accordance with our Comment Guidelines. Nothing else has been changed or altered in any way. Please see About This Blog for more information.
Get The Job Done Well. Make the Customer Happy dont take away Free Checkings Perk we are customer decided to join the financial based on the products and services offered. Keep the exisiting banking package wachovia offers. that you dont have customers from Wachovia Jump ship to the competition. such B of A, JPM Chase Bank,Regions Financial.
FOCUS on Customers Needs.
No Minimum Balance
Unlimited Check Writing
* One Huge Plus Trust Me on this Eliminate the ATM fee that Wells/Wachovia charges its customer. and only charged they use non atm once.
You have a better advantage customer TRY To Keep in the United States. this a huge me as customer with banking with other institutions notice in house customer is better than NO out sourcing to India. that why Wachovia has been successful 8 years in row JD Award.
You're not giving us answers. Just paragraphs repeating itself over and over again. We would like to hear projected plan. Even if it changes, we want to hear what has been planned. Come on, quit jerking our chains! Spit it out and tell us already whats being planned!
Before you purchased Wachovia your bank was far down the list of banks at risk and with plenty of cash in the bank.
Now, after acquiring Wachovia, you are now listed in the top 5 of banks described as Dead Banks Walking.
Now you need a bailout.
what kind of good business sense is that.
After being a customer in your bank for over 20 years I now have to consider that you will be closed down in a year or 2 under FDIC rules like WAMU was.
Way to go/ Not
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I tend to agree with a previous poster. As a Wells Fargo customer who lived through the Norwest merger, I understand the need for Wells Fargo to proceed with its merger with Wachovia throughtfully and meticulously. BUT, I think we as customers would like a general timeline to the merger and integration. I don't think anyone here is asking for specific dates. Wells Fargo could simply state, "We expect to integrate the Western region (California, Nevada, and Arizona) by the 4th Quarter 2009, the Northeast region by the 1st Quarter 2010, etc."
If you look at JP Morgan Chase's merger with Washington Mutual or PNC's merger with National City (which both occurred roughly the same time as Wells Fargo's), these two institutions seem to be ahead of Wells Fargo in terms of releasing information to their customers.
I agree that some general timeframe would be nice (like Texas is expected to be integrated in 3rd Q 2010, credit cards will be integrated in 4th Q 2009).
When First Union bought Wachovia, the general timeframe of integration provided was very helpful.
First, I am an employee of Wells Fargo. I am not a decision maker, nor management of any form. I speak for nobody but myself.
I'd just like to comment on those screaming for a 'faster' integration as with some banking acquisitions taking place in the US.
As a share holder I'll admit I was at first confused by use of the word 'merger' considering Wells purchased Wachovia. However, as an employee a 'merger' is the only approach I have seen, heard, or read about from our WF leadership. It is clear that we are seen as merging with our counterparts at Wachovia and not 'taking them over'.
What I would point out is that in some of the examples given by others above, a 'merger' is the last thing taking place. I personally have friends and former co-workers on both sides of two of the above 'mergers' and believe me, what is taking place is not a pretty thing. Many employees were instantly wiped clean, while others kept on only to aid in the transfer of information and their jobs to another city & state.
If what takes place is perceived by some as 'slow', yet it works to ensure the smooth, successful and secure mesh of people, data and systems, I say 'Great. Let's do it right.'.
Steve,
When Wachovia announced the SouthTrust acquisition 35 days later they did an integration presentation in NYC. It's been 171 days since Wells announced Wachovia and not a peep on integration timetables ("check back later").
What gives?
173 days, and counting...
In reference to Washington Mutual...
I am also a WaMu customer. Chase's approach to the absorption of Washington Mutual is outside-in and bottom-up.
Here, in California, they changed the signs outside branches two weeks ago, but nothing was different on the inside. This week, they changed the deposit slips and the employee uniform, but everything still runs on the same old WaMu computer system. It's painful to walk into one of these newly-minted Chase branches and have them stumble over an actual Chase account.
So far, slow and steady wins the race.
To the employee that posted on March 19th, I'd like to add that in no way is this a merger of equals, but instead a hostile takeover (just your next-to-last paragraph supports).
Practically all of Wachovia's information technology department is being reorganized, despite the fact that it is much more efficient than that of WF's. That has been coupled with almost daily job losses. Given the fact that the economy of Winston-Salem, NC is based on thousands of those positions, the impact of having them moved or eliminated is going to wound the area almost beyond repair, if the current economic situation here isn't bad enough as it is.
While I do think that both of the companies need to look out for their customers, they also need to look out for their own people as well. There is definitely a sense of bias with each company wanting their own technologies and processes to be used by the newly merged bank, but they're not making the wisest decisions when it comes to picking what is most efficient. Had they done that, I'm sure a number of positions at Wachovia would have been left intact, because it is in fact technologically superior.
Merging these banks is like trying to combine two entirely different cultures. It's not going to be the one that is necessarily better or that makes more sense that will come out on top, just the one that happens to have more resources or is in some sort of position of power over the other. It seems to me like WF is too concerned with maintaining its past and being "traditional" to look into the future.