Citigroup buys Wachovia

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

NEW YORK (AP) -- The government says Citigroup will acquire the banking operations of Wachovia in a deal facilitated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The FDIC says Wachovia didn't fail, and that all depositors are protected and there will be no cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund.

Read more: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080929/wachovia_citigroup.html?.v=1

---

This is also breaking on the cable news sites...

There goes my bank. I'm on # 5 now. First PA -> Corestates -> First Union -> Wachovia -> Citigroup.

Sigh...

[lost-in-nj]

1. It's time to buy

a bigger mattress,

and I am almost not joking.....


scary stuff


lost

[BumRushDaShow]

2. You got that right. Maybe a safe too. n/t

[happyslug]

20. You both wrong, you are assuming money will hold its value

With the proposed deal, it will not, thus you will have a mattress full of worthless paper. You have to buy Real things. Things people will want, Food, Clothing Gasoline etc. I would avoid Gold, the Gold bugs have push the value of Gold up to much, and gold is only god as a medium of exchange i.e. money and we are headed for barter society (With maybe gasoline/oil being used as a medium of exchange as Tobacco was in Colonial Virginia).

[BumRushDaShow]

22. I bought gold and silver 20 years ago when it was cheap.

The "barter society" has always been here in the U.S. (and worldwide), and in some cases, people refer to portions of it as the "black market", so that's nothing new. The fact that just last week, the U.S. mint suspended gold coin sales (the Buffalo) in order to re-sell only to dealers in a rationed fashion, is a clue. Most countries still accept gold as a backing for currency and the U.S. reserves are being raided as I type.

The ace in the hole for those in control is of course Saudi, Dubai, the Emirates, etc., who own much of the world's wealth... and to the point where they are constructing obscenely tall skyscrapers just for fun. The U.S. is the world's largest consumer of oil (and no, it will still take time for China to get to the point where we are due to lack of infrastructure), and they may swoop in at some point to keep the U.S. from collapsing completely.

[heliarc]

32. Gold was the buy in February when Spitzer foretold this whole mess...

Now its value is too inflated just as you say.

[Mudoria]

3. Guess I'll be swapping banks in the near future..

I have no interest in doing my banking with anything associated with Citigroup.

[Pab Sungenis]

4. That's banking. What about the investment and trust divisions?

Need to know.

[peaches2003]

5. Me, too

Our checking and savings deposits I'm not worried about and can easily change banks if we want to. But our broker and all our investments are at Wachovia Securities. I'm disgusted.

[Pale Blue Dot]

11. From rading #6 below, it sounds like your investments are in trouble.

Good luck. :hug:

[Virginia Dare]

29. Us too, it sucks...n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Another link with more info

http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/29/news/companies/wachovia_citigroup/index.htm?postversion=2008092908

Just scanning this article now but it looks like the rest will stand independent, with the technicality that Wachovia didn't "fail". It sounds like it's a breakup and sell-off of pieces to Citigroup.

Edit to clarify: "Pieces" in that the consumer banking goes to Citigroup and the rest will remain Wachovia and then they go from there regarding what to do with it.

[peaches2003]

19. Just heard from my broker

Wach Securities are entirely independent and will remain so. Not involved in the 'merger'. And she says WS is very profitable and our investments are insured. We'll see about that.

[Virginia Dare]

30. That makes me feel a little better I guess...n/t

[Jane Eyre]

7. From the Charlotte Observer

Comment from the Charlotte Observer online edition article about this:


So it's Citigroup.

Charlotte just took a major league hit, due to the stupidity of a bunch of high-level folks at Wachovia. And the ripples from this won't just affect Wachovia employees... we're all going to take a hit from this as the local economy suffers due to job losses and an even-more-depressed real estate market.

September 29th will long be remembered as the day when Economic Reality finally arrived in Charlotte.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/100/story/220420.html

This is bad news for Charlotte. Wachovia employs more people here than Bank of America.

There are also major political implications. Charlotte's Republican mayor, Pat McCrory, is running for governor. NC is now officially a battleground state, and Charlotte is where the votes are. Especially Democratic votes. Governor Easley has vowed to fight tooth and nail to keep Wachovia HQ in NC.

This morning's Charlotte Observer headline about this issue was about the same size as a "This is War" headline. Big, big news here, and not good news either.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. They might as well forget that

unless the state comes up with all sorts of give-aways to Citigroup, but even then, Citigroup's corporate HQ is already on the east coast in NYC.

Wachovia came into Philadelphia after buying First Union and put their name everywhere First Union used to have their name including an arena. Guess that's the end of that too.

[Jane Eyre]

12. Wachovia / First Union Merger

The weird thing about the First Union and Wachovia merger is that it was actually First Union that was the dominant bank in that merger, but they chose to take the Wachovia name. So it was still First Union people running the show but under a different name.

Same thing happened when NationsBank took over Bank of America. It was supposedly a merger of equals and NationsBank took the Bank of America name. But the former Bank of America CEO was pushed out soon thereafter and the headquarters were moved from San Francisco to Charlotte.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. I was wondering about why BOA was suddenly in Charlotte, NC

I always remembered them in CA. Interesting.

[torbird]

9. Big News Indeed

Charlotte's economy has been essentially recession-proof for decades, because of the construction projects financed by BofA and Wachovia/First Union. Bank of America cannot carry on alone; both banks thrived from the competition, slight though it was.

This is terrible news. Wachovia executives should be ashamed of themselves.

[Jane Eyre]

13. Huge Wachovia Construction Project in Charlotte

Wachovia is building a big skyscraper and arts complex in downtown Charlotte, scheduled for completion in 2010. This is going to hurt.

[ThePowerofWill]

14. I was just thinking this is bad news for the area.

I don't live in Charlotte, but within an hours or so drive. Gonna be a lot of hurt coming this way.

I bet a lot of those fine new houses on the lake (Norman) will be empty before long. Not to mention all those expansive suburbs that have sprawled Charlotte almost to Catawba county. Used to be going down HWY 16 there was a nice break between Denver and Charlotte....not so much anymore. An area once thought of a rural was bought up by Charlotte's (at one time) growing banking class. If large job loss comes so will the domino effect of people not being able to pay for their slice of that development.

Yes this is gonna hurt.

[yodermon]

15. Front page of Observer this morning.

Yep, this is my bank too.

[JackintheGreen]

10. Ye gods, I feel you

I finally settled on Wachovia several years ago after a series of local banks were bought out by increasingly odious corporate masters (mostly Fleet). It seemed unavoidable, and Wachovia seemed the least evil. Oh well, one step forward four steps back.

[mmonk]

16. Banking will remain in Charlotte.

Wachovia Investments will be headquartered in NYC.

[peaches2003]

17. Don't count on it.

You think the Citicorp people necessarily want to move to Charlotte? I like Charlotte, one son lives there, but no matter what they may say now, don't expect Citicorp execs and wives in a rush to move south.

[Neshanic]

25. Meanwhile at Citi..."How many branches can we lose and people?"

Just in Phoenix alone, all those nice new Wachovia banks will bite the big one.

[WriteDown]

27. Bingo....

I worked for a company which had a facility in Cherry Hill, NJ and one in Dallas, TX. The Dallas office outperformed the Cherry Hill office in every metric and did so with less staff. They ended up closing the Dallas office due to the execs not wanting to move to Dallas. I take that back just a bit. A lone exec did move for a brief period and then left the company.

[peaches2003]

35. It's the wives who decide

We lived in Winston-Salem when the RJR wives decided to say Adios and head back to NYC. The husbands and headquarteers followed soon after.

[WriteDown]

36. Interesting....

I always liked Winston Salem.

[Zech Marquis The 2nd]

21. damn man...

I'm a Wachovia customer too, and the just sent me a brand new debit card like 3 days ago, not to mention I've ordered new checks..so here we go from Wachovia to Citi :eyes:

I;m glad Wachovia didn't fail like the others did, but still...damn...

[Raine]

34. I just ordered new checks from them last week

and they haven't even arrived yet. The new checks from Wachovia were to replace the World Bank ones that I still had left over from Wachovia's take over of World Bank! :argh:

[ensho]

23. yeah I've gone from First Union to Wachovia and now Citigroup

and I went to First Union because I didn't like Wachovia - jeez

[Neshanic]

24. I went through 7 banks from 1987 to 1993. Now my overlord is Citi, which I despise.

[madamesilverspurs]

26. Isn't CITI

part of BFEE?

[BelgianMadCow]

28. Sure is. Saudis own a good chunk of it, for starters.

[Virginia Dare]

31. I"m fucking out of there...that's for sure...n/t

[Jane Eyre]

33. Charlotte Mecklenburg City, County & Chamber's Joint Statement on Wachovia

City, County & Chamber's Joint Statement on Wachovia

For Immediate Release
September 29, 2008

With the announcement that Citigroup will acquire Wachovia's retail bank, corporate and investment bank and wealth management businesses, leaders of the Charlotte Chamber met today with Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners Chair Jennifer Roberts, and representatives of the Charlotte Regional Partnership and the Charlotte Center City Partners. Participating by phone were U.S. Senators Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr and N.C. Secretary of Commerce Jim Fain. We wish to communicate the following joint statement.

We are grateful for the role that Wachovia and its predecessor First Union have played in the growth and development of Charlotte into a great American city. Our thoughts and concerns are with all Wachovia stakeholders who now face an uncertain future.

We will all work together to make the case to the leadership of Citigroup to retain every job that is currently in Charlotte and to encourage them to increase their investment in our community. The case is simple. We offer a labor force that is skilled in banking. We offer a cost of living that is 92 percent of the national average. And we offer attractive and affordable commercial real estate that is currently occupied by Wachovia or under construction. In addition, the Charlotte region has a transportation infrastructure and quality of life second to none.

It is important to note that our economy remains diverse. While banking is the leading sector, ours is not a one-industry town. Manufacturing, transportation, health care, motorsports, tourism and many thriving small businesses drive our economy. And with Bank of America's recent purchase of Merrill Lynch, we remain the second-largest banking center in the United States, behind New York City and ahead of San Francisco.

The Citigroup purchase of Wachovia, along with the current gas crunch, is causing much uncertainty at all levels of our economy. We will work with the leadership in Raleigh and Washington to help them do everything in their power to restore confidence in the United States economy. It is in the best interest of everyone from Wall Street to Tryon Street to work together toward positive solutions, and we will pledge to keep the lines of communication open and focused on outcomes that will protect our citizens, our workers and their families.



The Honorable Pat McCrory, Mayor, City of Charlotte
The Honorable Jennifer Roberts, Chair, Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners
Bob Morgan, President & CEO, Charlotte Chamber of Commerce

[JonLP24]

37. It's all my fault!!

My car was repossessed by Wachovia last June.

[ihelpu2see]

38. This deal was inked prior to the bail out failing.... I wonder if CitiGroup

has a provision in the proposal that says something to the fact that the bail out bill must be passed????? would that make sense.
I know if I was Citi I would be looking for that kind of cover. " Here Fed you take these bad loans that we picked up from Wachovia"

Or am I totally off base with what is going on????