Bank employees of the Wachovia assembled at the Atrium on Wednesday listening with bated breath to the Chief Executive of Wells Fargo & Co. John Stumpf, contemplating on their future. However, Bob Steel, the Chief Executive of Wachovia Corp. was significantly absent from this meeting.
After the meeting between the bank employees and John Stumpf concluded, Bob Steel gave a press conference in which he stated that there was no operating role for him in the new company.
According to Steel, this was not a particular problem with him as he has at present at least two jobs on hand namely making sure everything goes on well with the deal and help John and team to set up one of the best banks ever.
He addressed the thousands who were present at the Wachovia atrium tensed about their future and said it was his duty to see that they all stay with the company. He also went on to reiterate his promise that the East Coast headquarters of Wells will be Charlotte. He also said at least 84 lines of business of this bank would be headquartered here. He however issued a tinge of warning too that he could not provide complete guarantee on the total number of employments.
Head of retail bank operations, Ben Jenkins who is with the bank for the last 38 years faces uncertainty and said he does not know if he will be retained. He went on to say no one has the time to think about it as everyone has a lot of things to do right now.
