Press Releases

“Ben drives for excellence in everything he does and he expects the same of his team, which has helped them deliver world class results for Wachovia and build the most successful general bank in the country today,” said Wachovia Chairman and CEO Ken Thompson. “Ben is a high-energy leader who balances his heart, head and years of on-the-ground experience to make the best possible decisions for our business, our employees and our customers.”

Jenkins is credited with taking Wachovia’s General Bank from a mid-single-digit growth business five years ago to a strong organic growth engine posting earnings increases in the low to mid-teens.  He has led his team in consistently improving customer service, reducing customer attrition from a high of 20 percent five years ago to an industry-leading 10 percent today and ranking Number One in service as measured by the University of Michigan for the past four years. Jenkins and his team have been instrumental in the flawless integration of the First Union/Wachovia and Wachovia/SouthTrust mergers, and he has led the successful expansion of Wachovia’s banking network into Manhattan, Texas and most recently California.

He joined the company in 1971 and held several key leadership positions for Wachovia’s banking operations in the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Florida. He was appointed head of the General Bank in 1999.

Wachovia’s General Bank is comprised of all state-based retail and wholesale activities including branch delivery, commercial operations, mortgage, credit card and corporate customer service and represents approximately 55 percent of the company’s corporate earnings.

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.