Thursday afternoon, officials at Wells Fargo announced that the acquisition of Wachovia Corp. was completed, with the firm acquiring all of Wachovia’s shares, in exchange for 0.20 shares of Wells Fargo.

The new financial services giant, Wells Fargo, is now in position of $1.4 trillion U.S. in assets.

The services network now reaches 39 states and the District of Columbia, over 48 million homes all together. As of Thursday, customers of both banks will be able to use all 12,000 ATMs available under both brands.

The takeover, which was announced during the peak of the banking crisis which led to the current recession in October, was a competitive buyout between Wells Fargo and Citibank, with Wells Fargo winning with a $15.4 billion agreement.

The Citibank proposed takeover was a match made by the U.S. federal government, in an attempt to recover the failing bank, and banking system as soundly as possible.

Bank of America’s acquisition of the giant Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., creating the United States’ largest bank was also announced complete.

 Print This   Email This   Share/Save