Press Releases

"This new menu of deposit accounts offers our retail customers one of the first tangible benefits of the First Union/Wachovia merger," said David Pope, co-head of the Retail Bank for Wachovia Corporation. "Our overall goal is to bring more value to customers through the new accounts. So we’ve combined the best of what both legacy banks had to offer in terms of checking and other deposit accounts to create one simplified, unified product line."

For most customers, there will be no changes to existing accounts. If a customer’s account is changing, the bank will send that customer a letter outlining the account changes, along with a brochure describing the entire new account menu. These letters and brochures will arrive via first-class mail in May and June.

"The new account line offers choices for every lifestyle and stage of life," Pope said. "Customers will recognize many of the most popular accounts we retained from both banks, but we have new account choices, as well. Plus, we added value to our accounts wherever possible through additional features and better pricing."

During most bank mergers, changes to deposit accounts happen simultaneously with operational conversion, often in the span of a weekend. However, Wachovia chose to separate these two events to further ensure its goal of providing a smooth transition for customers.

"By introducing our new retail deposit accounts before operational conversion and branch sign changes, we give our customers and employees time to become accustomed to the new accounts," Pope said. "Often, customers have many questions when accounts change. This decision allows our employees to focus their attention on answering customers’ account questions over the coming months, as opposed to dividing their attention between new accounts and new systems at the same time."

For now, customers should continue to use their current First Union or Wachovia branches, checks, Check Cards and ATM or debit cards as usual. Current First Union customers will not have access to Wachovia branches and current Wachovia customers will not have access to First Union branches until operational systems are converted. Regional conversions are scheduled to begin in Florida in November 2002, moving up the East Coast until the end of 2003. As each regional conversion is complete, the branches will bear the new Wachovia logo, and customers will gain complete access to Wachovia’s 2,800 branches and 4,700 ATMs. Customers will know that the conversion process is complete in their region when the branch signs change to the new Wachovia logo.

Wachovia will use the same strategy with business customers. The company will begin introducing its new menu of commercial checking and savings accounts to business customers in September 2002.

About Wachovia

Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB), created through the September 1, 2001, merger of First Union and Wachovia, had assets of $320 billion and stockholder's equity of $29 billion at March 31, 2002. Wachovia is a leading provider of financial services to nine million customer households throughout the East Coast and the nation. The company operates full-service banking offices under the First Union and Wachovia names in 11 East Coast states and Washington, D.C., and offers full-service brokerage with offices in 49 states and global services through more than 30 international offices. Online banking and brokerage products and services are available through wachovia.com and firstunion.com.