Press Releases

Francis “Frank” Newman III will be Wachovia’s Southern California regional president and COO, and George Swygert will serve as Wachovia’s California retail banking executive.  Both positions will be located in the Los Angeles area.  Together, the two executives have a combined 38 years of banking experience.  In their new roles, they will report to Cece Sutton, head of Wachovia’s Retail and Small Business Bank.

“We are pleased that one of the benefits of our proposed merger with Westcorp is that it will give Wachovia a small retail branch and commercial banking presence in the growing and attractive Southern California market,” said Ben Jenkins, head of Wachovia’s General Bank.  “When we complete the merger, I know Frank and George will ably lead our strategy and our banking team in Southern California.”

The proposed merger was announced on Sept. 12, 2005, and the two companies plan to consummate the merger late in the first quarter of 2006.

Before completion of the merger, Newman and Swygert will work with Marguerite Drew, current president of Retail Banking for Western Financial Bank, and Jim Tecca, current president of Commercial Banking for Western Financial Bank, to create plans for the integration of Western Financial Bank’s operations into Wachovia.  Upon consummation, Tecca will report to Carlos Evans, head of Wachovia’s Wholesale Bank.  Drew will continue reporting to Tom Wolfe, president and CEO of WFS Financial.  Wolfe will head up Wachovia’s dealer finance business upon consummation.  As announced on Sept. 12, upon consummation Ernest Rady, chairman of Westcorp, will serve as chairman of Wachovia's dealer finance business and chairman of Wachovia’s California banking operations, reporting directly to Ben Jenkins, head of Wachovia’s General Bank.

For the past two years, Newman served as director of planning, operations and segment support for Wachovia’s Retail/Small Business Bank, a position based in Charlotte, N.C.  In this role, he managed efforts such as Wachovia’s Texas expansion, its new branch openings and its strategy for selling mortgages in bank branches across the Wachovia footprint.  His prior experience includes leading Wachovia’s banking efforts in key Florida markets and serving as the retail banking executive for Florida.  Swygert has led successful retail teams for Wachovia for many years, most recently as retail banking executive for Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, D.C.  His prior experience at Wachovia gives him a deep and broad understanding of retail banking, including leading sales teams, managing marketing efforts and leading a branch in his first job at the company as a branch manager.

About Wachovia
Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB) is one of the largest providers of financial services to retail, brokerage and corporate customers, with banking operations from Connecticut to Florida and west to Texas, and retail brokerage operations nationwide. Wachovia had assets of $532.4 billion, market capitalization of $73.9 billion and stockholders’ equity of $46.8 billion at September 30, 2005. Its four core businesses, the General Bank, Capital Management, Wealth Management, and the Corporate and Investment Bank, serve 13 million household and business relationships primarily through 3,138 offices in 15 states and Washington, D.C. Its full-service retail brokerage firm, Wachovia Securities, LLC, also serves clients through 702 offices in 49 states and five Latin American countries. The Corporate and Investment Bank serves clients in selected industries nationwide. Global services are offered through 40 offices around the world. Online banking and brokerage products and services also are available through Wachovia.com.

Additional Information
The proposed merger among Wachovia, Westcorp and WFS Financial Inc will be submitted to Westcorp’s and WFS Financial Inc’s shareholders for their consideration.  Stockholders are urged to read the definitive joint proxy statement/prospectus regarding the proposed transaction among Wachovia, Westcorp and WFS Financial Inc and any other relevant documents filed with the SEC because they contain important information.  You may obtain a free copy of the joint proxy statement/prospectus, as well as other filings containing information about Wachovia, Westcorp and WFS Financial, at the SEC’s Internet site (http://www.sec.gov).  You will also be able to obtain these documents at www.wachovia.com, www.westcorpinc.com, or www.wfsfinancial.com.  Copies of the joint proxy statement/prospectus and the SEC filings incorporated by reference in the joint proxy statement/prospectus can also be obtained, without charge, by directing a request to Wachovia Corporation, Investor Relations, One Wachovia Center, 301 South College Street, Charlotte, NC 28288-0206, (704)-374-6782; or to Westcorp, Attention: Guy Du Bose, Esq., 23 Pasteur, Irvine, CA 92618, (949) 727-1002, or to WFS Financial Inc, Attention: Guy Du Bose, Esq., 23 Pasteur, Irvine, CA 92618, (949) 727-1002.    Additional copies of the joint proxy statement/prospectus may also be obtained by contacting Westcorp’s and WFS Financial Inc’s proxy solicitor, Mellon Investor Services, Attention:  Peter Tomaszewski, telephone number 1-800-279-0618.