June 2009 Archives

Ann Marie Quinn

We've been telling you for a while now that we were going to kick off our state-by-state banking location conversions in Colorado during the last quarter of 2009. We've also been saying that as soon as we had more specifics, we'd let you all know.

Well, as promised, we have some news!

Subject to regulatory approval, it's all scheduled to begin happening in November: Wachovia financial centers in Colorado will officially take on the Wells Fargo name, signs and systems. In total, we'll be adding 19 banking stores to the Wells Fargo network — all of which will offer our Envelope-free^SM ATMs, a first for Wells Fargo in Colorado! After the conversion's finished, there will be a total of 170 Wells Fargo banking stores across the state.

As a result of the integration, 14 Wachovia locations will combine with nearby Wells Fargo stores that are either right across the street or within a mile and a half.

Please remember: Until the Colorado integration is complete, continue banking where you do today! Once it's done, you'll be free to use any of the 170 Wells Fargo banking stores across the state.

Thanks as usual for your patience, and please keep your comments coming!

Molly Murphy

As we've said before, Wells Fargo and Wachovia are a great match for many reasons. One of those is our respect for the varying backgrounds of both our customers and our team members. That diversity is so important, we have Diverse Segments — a division that develops programs to address the financial needs of diverse customer groups nationwide, including African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, Women and the LGBT community.

With June being Pride Month, I am pleased to introduce you guest blogger, Mark Ng. Mark is our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Segment Manager for Diverse Segments. Today he shares some of his thoughts about Pride.

During the month of June, we join other organizations and companies throughout the nation in celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month.  This month-long commemoration gives us the opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of LGBT Americans and recognize the contributions of the LGBT community to the greater fabric of American diversity.

Those who regularly visit this blog know that there are many aspects to the integration process. However, one value that both of our companies already share is our respect and appreciation of diversity.

Since the 1980s, Wells Fargo and Wachovia have supported several LGBT organizations across the nation. Our support came not only in the form of donations, but also through thousands of volunteer hours logged in by our team members to assist the work of our LGBT community partners. For the past 5 years, both companies scored a perfect 100% on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index , and both have a long history of supporting LGBT employee resource networks. In fact, we were ranked #2 on DiversityInc's 2009 Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees. 

I am only one of the many LGBT team members proud to work for a company that allows us to bring 100% of ourselves to work every day. Not having to spend energy hiding and pretending allows us to focus our energy on what matters the most: serving our customers.

During the coming weeks, many of you will see the stagecoach at local Pride parades and celebrations throughout the country.While the stagecoach is a great visual symbol of our brand, ours is a living brand. I encourage you to talk to the hundreds of LGBT team members and allies at the parade or at the Festival. They are our greatest ambassadors of pride and respect and will tell you first-hand about Wells Fargo's inclusive work environment, and how we express our Pride, not only in June, but throughout the year.

Matt Wadley

So things are really starting to happen around here: Wachovia Securities has officially become Wells Fargo Advisors, the first conversions state, Colorado, has been announced and we're keeping Way2Save. But, we know you still have a lot of questions about other account product and services, especially online banking.

We've enlisted a new guest blogger — Ian Matchett — to give an update on how the merger is going to offer you even more great online services. Ian's a former Wachovia eCommerce employee and is now part of Wells Fargo Internet Services Group. He also moonlights as one of the voices on our @Ask_WellsFargo  Twitter channel, and will soon be a voice on our @Wachovia  channel too.

Thanks, Matt! We've been blogging a lot about OUR excitement around the integration of Wachovia and Wells Fargo — and we really are excited, especially as we continue to work with all of our customers throughout the transition.

We've also been asking you to have patience and to keep doing "business as usual" while we sort things out. During this time, questions like these from Arthur (01/09/09) have been common:

I find little information about the effect of the merger on online banking, which is of great concern to me. What am I missing?

Well, Arthur, I'm happy to report that you're not missing anything! We now have the opportunity to tell you more about some of the features and benefits all of you Wachovia customers will enjoy as soon as you're converted to Wells Fargo Online Banking.

While we're still ironing out some details, I've summarized some of the additions or completely new services that are on the horizon. Coming soon are improvements to:

• Online Bill Pay — Fund bill payments from more accounts (credit card, home equity lines and personal lines of credit) and even pay bills the same day
• Online invoicing — Create, transmit, receive, reconcile and pay invoices online
• Mobile Banking: Mobile banking customers will have access to an easy-to-use mobile web site, that includes bill pay with scheduling capabilities, as well as a new service, text banking!
• My Spending Report — You do the spending, we do the math. Online budget management tool can help to keep finances a little clearer.
• Mortgage enhancements — Balance in Account summary, turn off paper statements, 12 more months of transaction history

Plus there are going to be things like more alert options, much longer history of check images for your account(s) and a bunch of other things that haven't been unveiled yet.

Keep in mind that what state you live in will determine when you actually switch over to Wells Fargo Online Banking — it's part of the overall integration process. The first wave will take place in the fourth quarter of this year (around November) and will include Colorado.

So yes, this is definitely an exciting time for us. Why? Because you're getting to reap the benefits of a combined company. As always, thank you for your business, your patience and your belief in us! And please keep letting us know what you think about these new additions.

To be continued...

Keith Whitaker

Being somewhat involved in the integration of Wachovia and Wells Fargo, I am fully aware of the questions and stresses people are dealing with these days. Customers and clients face the stress of wondering how products, services, and relationships will change. Even more broadly, people face the stress of paying bills and keeping up with debt.

There's also the stress of dealing with market volatility. A couple of months ago that stress stemmed from watching market declines — now it may stem from watching the market going back up and wondering when is the right time to get back in!

I never liked the word "stress." Perhaps because it's one of those words that by itself may evoke the emotion it designates. Often when people talk about stress, they actually get stressed. As you know if you saw my last post (Bouncing Back in Tough Times), I think it's much more helpful to focus on the positive, our resilience, rather than on stress.

In cardiac medicine, when folks with a medium risk of heart disease are worried about their hearts (due to various risk factors, such as smoking, family history, or high cholesterol), they undergo stress tests  to diagnose how well the blood flows through their arteries during exercise.

Certainly the market gyrations — whether up or down — feel to me like one of those tests. The intensity sometimes just appears to grow and grow, like a treadmill that won't stop rising.

But what can you do beyond getting tested? What can you do to help you make it through the ordeal or even to do well when you get to the other side?

Matt Wadley

Last month, we announced that Wachovia Securities was officially renamed Wells Fargo Advisors. And late last week, the online brokerage platform was rebranded with the Wells Fargo Advisors logo and colors throughout the site.

The change in the overall look — from the Wachovia Securities logo and decidedly blue color scheme to the Wells Fargo Advisors design of brown and gold (along with a stagecoach sighting) — truly creates the feel of a new relationship. As a Wachovia Securities customer, I have to admit that it was kind of exciting when I logged in and experienced the new look for the first time.

Of course, even though online brokerage platform and the public websites have been branded as Wells Fargo Advisors, it will still be a few months before all web pages, e-mail notifications and marketing materials reflect the Wells Fargo Advisors brand.

Stay tuned.

Marianne Babal

There has been a lot of talk on this blog about timing and names changes. Some folks think Wells Fargo should do name-change conversion faster — others favor a more gradual, deliberate approach.

No matter what your viewpoint, one major business group of our combined company has (as you know) already taken on its new moniker: Wachovia Securities officially became Wells Fargo Advisors on May 1.

Other recent blog posts have addressed the name change and goals of Wells Fargo Advisors, but I thought I'd share a little bit about the history of this group, based in St. Louis, and who are now representing Wells Fargo there — and around the nation — as Wells Fargo Advisors.

First of all, why St. Louis? Because in 1887, a prominent St. Louis businessman and banker named Albert Gallatin Edwards launched a new brokerage business there. The fact that Edwards embarked on creating a new firm at age 75 is remarkable in itself, but in reality, the founding of A.G. Edwards & Sons was merely a capstone in his outstanding career .

Born in Kentucky in 1812 and named with great foresight after a Secretary of the Treasury , Edwards grew up in Illinois, where his father Ninian  served as governor and U.S. Senator. Young Albert G. Edwards graduated from West Point, and while stationed near St. Louis, met and married Louise Cabanne, daughter of a prominent St. Louis family. Soon afterward A.G. resigned his military commission to enter the wholesale business in St. Louis.

Edwards' business acumen and family connections in Missouri and Illinois helped him succeed. In Illinois, Edwards' brother, Ninian W.,  became brother-in-law to a young ambitious lawyer named Abraham Lincoln, and Ninian's home in Springfield hosted the wedding of Lincoln and Mary Todd (sister of Ninian Edwards' wife Elizabeth ) in 1842.

The family connection to Lincoln, in part, prompted A.G. Edwards to fight for the Union cause in Missouri. As a reward, President Lincoln named A.G. Edwards Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in April, 1865, just six days before his assassination.

Edwards parlayed his Treasury and banking experience into instant credibility for his new St. Louis stock, bond and investment brokerage business, which became the first St. Louis broker to handle transactions on the New York Stock Exchange. A.G. Edwards & Sons — the sons being Benjamin Franklin Edwards, George Lane Edwards, and Albert Ninian Edwards — earned its customers' trust through conservative management, avoiding market failures in the volatile 1890s.

A.G. died in 1892, but his descendants ran the firm for the next century.

The A.G. Edwards firm bought a seat on the NYSE in 1898, and although it also opened an office on Wall Street, the management of A.G. Edwards remained firmly rooted in St. Louis and characteristic Midwestern values. A focus on individual customers and managerial and philosophical distance from Wall Street helped A.G. Edwards emerge from the great stock market crash of 1929 with relatively few losses. And after World War II, the company brought a new determination to make brokerage services directly available to individual investors through a series of branch offices.

Now, as Wells Fargo Advisors, the customer-centric values cultivated over generations bring new opportunities to join together and fulfill Wells Fargo's own long-standing visions and values: Satisfy all of our customers' financial needs and help them succeed financially.

Molly Murphy

Since practically day one of our blog, we've been hearing from you about Way2Save.

Folks like Natalie (01/05/09) wrote simply:

Please don't get rid of Way2Save!

And then there's this comment from J.A. Santes (01/10/09):

Way2Save: As a Wells Fargo checking and savings account holder, I would LOVE to see this program being not only continued, but also expanded nationwide through Wells Fargo.

Well, we're pleased to announce to you all that yes, indeed, we are keeping Way2Save. We're committed to helping our customers with their savings goals, and excited to be able to rollout Way2Save across the country.

We’re still working on the specifics and plan to share our progress with you on this blog as we iron out the details, so please check back in with us.

We look forward to your feedback!