Updated 12/23/2008 03:05 PM
Voters approve Wachovia merger
CHARLOTTE -- Wachovia shareholders have voted to approve the bank’s merger with Wells Fargo. The vote took place in Charlotte on Tuesday morning, with 76 percent in favor of the merger.
Despite the approval, not everyone is pleased with the move.
"The morality, as the preacher said, needs to come back to our financial institutions in order for things to turn around in this country and that's what needs to happen," said Vincent Koehler, who criticized the bank's leaders after voting against the merger on Tuesday.
Wells Fargo already controls nearly 40 percent of Wachovia’s shares, but it was a long road to get to this point. After briefly agreeing to a government-supported deal with Citigroup, the bank decided to spur that offer in favor of the more lucrative one coming from Wells Fargo and leading to lawsuits from both Wachovia shareholders and Citigroup.
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Wachovia shareholder and employee Jaronica Howard supported the merger and spoke to both bank's boards at the vote.
"I'm hopeful as they come into this community, they will adopt the same philosophies we have about how important the people are -- the people of Charlotte, Winston-Salem, everyone that banks with us; how important it us for us to do our business," said Howard.
Wells Fargo has made no official announcement about possible layoffs with the merger, but officials have said that the bank plans to cut costs by $5 billion per year. Meanwhile, seven of Wachovia’s 11 top executives plan to leave the combined company – including Wachovia CEO Bob Steel.
Jim Preston, who owned 8,290 shares and voted no to the merger, blamed Wachovia leaders for what has happened to the company and said they should have waited for the bailout plan.
"If they had given one more day, they would have gotten $25 billion like the other banks," he said. "But hindsight's 20/20."
Wachovia is set to officially become part of Wells Fargo on New Year’s Eve. As part of the merger process, the Wachovia name will be dissolved, but it could take a few years to switch everything over to the Wells Fargo name.