Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Making Progress Re-Branding Wachovia

At the height of the financial crisis, Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) was able to build it’s long desired east coast presence through the acquisition of Wachovia.

The integration of the Charlotte based bank into the San Francisco based Wells Fargo has gone relatively smoothly so far, though the full re-branding has not yet been completed. Removing the woven green and blue waves representing a prior merger between Wachovia and First Union banks will be replaced by the red and gold stagecoach of Wells Fargo in the near future.

While the outside of the banks are changing, inside, employees are getting accustomed to working on Wells Fargo software and learning about Wells products.  R. Gregory Collins, senior vice president of community banking for Wells Fargo/Wachovia who oversees 39 offices in a nine-county area commented “This has been happening from the west to the east, with the goal of making each conversion more effective than the last. We are very busy, but confident this will result in an even better customer experience.”

In addition to the sign change, each office will get at least some renovations, which could range from a change of floor plan to a few aesthetic touches. To help acclimate the customers to the change, in the next few weeks they will receive the first of several mailings called “What to expect.” Each letter is tailored to the services the customer uses at the bank, laying out how their experience will change.

Bert Ely, an Alexandria, Va.-based banking consultant commented “Considering the size and complexity of putting these two organizations together, how they are doing this makes enormous sense. Big banking companies learned you have to go carefully.”

The acquisition makes Wells the second-largest bank in the country, with more than 6,000 branches.