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Media Contact:   Karen Kitzmiller
(704) 374-2026

Investor Contact:   Alice Lehman
(704) 374-4139

February 18, 2004
Wachovia Plans to Enter Texas General Banking Market
Bodine and Wilson to Run DeNovo Operations Focused on Four Markets

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Wachovia announced today that it will enter the Texas general banking market by year-end. The company's plans include wholesale and retail banking operations in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Houston, Austin and San Antonio. Wachovia's banking headquarters for Texas will be Dallas. Wachovia, the nation's fourth-largest banking company and third-largest full-service brokerage, already has more than 800 employees in Texas.

"Texas offers Wachovia tremendous opportunity on both the wholesale and retail sides of our company, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring our culture of service excellence to the Lone Star state," said Benjamin P. Jenkins III, president of Wachovia's General Bank. "Texas will provide 12 percent of the nation's total population growth over the next 25 years, and we believe the markets we are focusing on are on the cusp of a robust job recovery. We want to position ourselves to match that pending demand and to help Texas companies and customers do the same."

Wachovia has tapped Guy Bodine III and William C. (Bill) Wilson to run the Texas bank.

Bodine, a Texas native, has 37 years of banking experience in the state and will serve as Texas CEO for Wachovia. Prior to joining Wachovia, Bodine spent 35 years with Bank of America where he served as the commercial growth executive for a 10-state region including Texas. He also served as Texas consumer banking executive, Texas commercial banking executive, and president of Bank of America-Texas. Bodine will be located in Dallas.

Wilson, also a native of Texas, will serve as the Texas commercial banking executive and as regional president for Wachovia's Houston banking region. He has spent 25 years in banking. In previous roles with Bank of America, he was EVP and commercial banking executive for North and South Carolina, and commercial banking executive for St. Louis, Dallas, Houston and Austin.

"We have selected exactly the right people to start up and run this market," Jenkins said. "Guy and Bill have spent the better part of their professional and personal lives in Texas, and they both have achieved tremendous success there. Their knowledge of the needs of Texas markets, of our potential customers, and of communities within this state will serve us well."

"One of the things that excites me most about joining this team is Wachovia's history of service excellence and its commitment to community," Bodine said. "I look forward to building on that same legacy in this great Texas market."

By the end of 2004, Wachovia plans to have more than 40 wholesale sales, risk and treasury management employees in Texas and plans to open four to six retail branches. The company's presence will continue to grow in Texas as it opens 30-50 new branches per year from 2005 to 2008 and adds additional wholesale, retail and leadership employees.

"We think these markets hold great promise for Wachovia," Jenkins said. "They house more than 60 percent of the state's population and account for 75 percent of the state's population growth, and they have great proximity to one other. Additionally, Texas is the fourth-largest state by deposits, and that base is expected to increase by more than $75 billion in the next five years."

Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB) is one of the largest providers of financial services to retail, brokerage and corporate customers throughout the East Coast and the nation, with assets of $401 billion, market capitalization of $61 billion and stockholders' equity of $32 billion at Dec. 31, 2003. Its four core businesses, the General Bank, Capital Management, Wealth Management, and the Corporate and Investment Bank, serve 9 million households, including 900,000 businesses, primarily in 11 East Coast states and Washington, D.C. Its broker-dealer, Wachovia Securities, LLC, serves clients in 49 states. Global services are provided through 32 international offices. Online banking and brokerage products and services also are available through Wachovia.com.

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