Wachovia Corp

Wachovia Corp., the No. 4 U.S. bank, said its retail brokerage was being investigated over payments from mutual fund companies, and its broker-dealer unit might face charges over alleged conflicts between stock research and investment banking. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company said the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating how well the brokerage, Wachovia Securities, disclosed revenue-sharing arrangements with fund companies.

Question: Can I expect the performance of Wells Fargo & Co.'s stock to improve? Answer: No one these days is doing handsprings over the prospects of banks, including Wells Fargo, a top-tier nationwide institution and the largest originator of home loans. Although the company has weathered its 2008 acquisition of Wachovia Corp. better than analysts had expected and is financially stronger than many rivals, its mortgage and home equity portfolios still bear close watching.

Hewlett-Packard Co. said Friday that it had named Wachovia Corp.'s chief executive to its board, filling one of the vacancies created by the computer and printer maker's board leak scandal that prompted the departure of three directors. Separately, HP said Securities and Exchange Commission regulators had elevated an investigation into the company's probe of boardroom leaks. Ken Thompson is the ninth member of HP's board of directors and its seventh outside director, the company said.

Wells Fargo & Co. said Tuesday that it would close 122 California bank branches as a result of its takeover of Wachovia Corp. last year, mostly Wachovia offices that are smaller and less prominently located than nearby Wells Fargo branches. The closures are scheduled to occur in April as San Francisco-based Wells Fargo puts its name on the Wachovia locations in the state that are to remain open. A casualty of decaying mortgage loans, Wachovia was teetering near collapse in October 2008 when Wells Fargo agreed to buy the Charlotte, N.C., company in a deal brokered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Wachovia Corp.'s board of directors voted to reject a "hostile" $13.7-billion acquisition proposal from SunTrust Banks Inc., reaffirming previous plans to merge with First Union Corp. "We looked long and hard, and on multiple occasions, at a combination with SunTrust and concluded it would not work," Wachovia Chairman L.M. Baker said. Shares of Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Wachovia rose 55 cents to $65.70; Atlanta-based SunTrust climbed 80 cents to $61.84; and First Union, of Charlotte, N.C.

Wachovia Corp. will pay $25 million to end a 28-month probe involving accusations of potential conflicts of interest between its stock analysts and investment banking business. The settlement with the bank's Wachovia Capital Markets unit was announced Wednesday by the North American Securities Administrators Assn., a group of state regulators. It is related to the settlement in 2003 and 2004 by 12 other banks with state and federal regulators, led by New York Atty. Gen.

A North Carolina state judge upheld First Union Corp.'s agreement to buy Wachovia Corp. for $14.5 billion, rejecting a challenge by rival bidder SunTrust Banks Inc. The ruling by Special Superior Court Judge Ben Tennille cleared the path for a shareholder vote Aug. 3 on the agreement between the two North Carolina-based banks. After the boards of First Union and Wachovia approved merger plans in April, Atlanta-based SunTrust launched its own $15.

Edgar Bronfman Jr. has lined up about a $9-billion commitment from a group headed by Wachovia Corp. to help finance a possible bid for the U.S. entertainment assets his family formerly owned, a source familiar with the deal said. Merrill Lynch & Co. also has agreed to help finance debt as Bronfman attempts to buy back much of the entertainment assets his family's Seagram Co. sold to Vivendi Universal in 2000 for $34 billion, sources said.

The Federal Reserve said it cleared First Union Corp. to buy North Carolina rival Wachovia Corp., removing the last major hurdle to the bitterly contested $14.6-billion bank merger. Wachovia's shareholders approved First Union's proposal earlier this month, ending a spirited battle over the Southeast regional bank with rival suitor SunTrust Banks Inc . The deal will create the No. 4 U.S. bank with 19 million customers, $321 billion in assets and 90,000 employees.

First Union Corp. defended its $12.6-billion takeover offer for Wachovia Corp. as superior to a surprise $13.5-billion bid from rival suitor SunTrust Banks Inc., but it did not try to trump the higher offer. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company said its offer is not much lower than that of Atlanta-based SunTrust and would result in greater earnings, capital and savings.

An investment fund owned by Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay $40 million to settle federal charges that it inflated the value of a mutual fund that invested mainly in securities tied to home mortgages and only selectively told shareholders about the fund's problems. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement with Boston-based Evergreen Investment Management Co. Wells Fargo of San Francisco acquired Wachovia Corp., Evergreen's parent company, in a $12.7-billion deal that closed Jan. 1.

Wells Fargo & Co., which received $25 billion in government aid, said Wednesday that it was cutting spending on the Wachovia Championship golf tournament in April amid criticism from U.S. lawmakers about banks' expenses. The San Francisco bank, which acquired Wachovia Corp. in December, has a sponsorship contract with the PGA Tour through 2014, spokeswoman Mary Beth Navarro said.

Wachovia Corp. shareholders Tuesday approved its sale to Wells Fargo & Co., one of the final steps toward ending the independence of the sixth-largest U.S. lender. Wells Fargo's Oct. 3 acquisition agreement granted the San Francisco-based buyer 39.9% of the voting power in the transaction for Wachovia, whose roots date from 1879. A shareholder lawsuit aimed at blocking the deal, which plaintiffs' lawyers described as unprecedented, was dismissed by a North Carolina judge Dec. 5.

Wachovia Corp. reported a $23.9-billion third-quarter loss Wednesday, the largest loss at any bank since the financial crisis began, reflecting the company's terrible timing in acquiring California-based mortgage lender Golden West Financial Corp. two years ago. Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia, which is being taken over by Wells Fargo & Co. after nearly collapsing last month, reported a host of problems. By far the biggest contributor to the loss was an $18.

Wachovia Corp. is seeking at least $358 million in a lawsuit against six home builders including KB Home, Toll Bros. Inc. and Lennar Corp. over a failed Nevada development. Wachovia Bank, a unit of Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia, sued in Manhattan federal court. Wachovia said land developer Focus Kyle and eight builders, two of which weren't sued, defaulted on guarantees to develop a planned community in Las Vegas. The $565-million development was to be called Kyle Canyon Gateway, with 16,000 homes on 1,710 acres, according to Commercial Property News Magazine.

The Federal Reserve on Sunday approved Wells Fargo's $11.7-billion acquisition of Wachovia Corp., removing the deal's last major regulatory hurdle. The Fed's move comes after federal antitrust regulators also moved swiftly to back San Francisco-based Wells Fargo's deal to buy the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, approving it on Friday. Citigroup Inc.

SunTrust Banks Inc. said it launched an unsolicited $13.5-billion bid for fellow regional bank Wachovia Corp., topping an earlier offer from First Union Corp., in a drive to widen its reach in the Southeast. SunTrust's surprise bid, which values Winston Salem, N.C.-based Wachovia at $64.86 a share, is about 6% higher than a rival offer of $61.16 a share from No. 6 U.S. bank holding company First Union.

Wachovia Corp. is buying competitor SouthTrust Corp. in a $14.3-billion deal that would make it the biggest bank in the Southeast. Wachovia said it planned to close 130 to 150 branch offices and eliminate about 4,300 jobs after the merger, announced Monday, is completed. Many of the job cuts would be done through attrition, said Ken Thompson, Wachovia's chief executive, chairman and president.

As ailing Wachovia Corp. waits to see whether it will be acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. or Citigroup Inc. -- possibly with taxpayers paying the tab for hundreds of billions of dollars in bad loans -- some of the company's top brokers are preparing to depart Saturday for an all-expenses-paid cruise of the Greek Isles. The weeklong trip for up to 75 employees of brokerage A.G.