2008 – A Year of Mergers and Acquisitions

With the new year, many financial services companies are welcoming new customers and team members to their organizations:

• Wells Fargo and Wachovia merged;
• Bank of America acquired Countrywide and Merrill Lynch;
• JPMorgan Chase acquired Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual;
• PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. acquired National City Corporation;
• MetLife acquired most of the mortgage operations of First Horizon;
• US Bank acquired Downey Savings & Loan and PFF Bank & Trust; and
• In 2009, IndyMac is preliminarily set to be sold to a group of private investors.

The Wells Fargo and Wachovia merger creates North America’s most extensive distribution system for financial services, doubling the number of Wells Fargo customers and extending its presence to the East Coast.

Wells Fargo President and CEO John Stumpf said, “We know this is a big job and we're going to merge these companies not based on a calendar; it's going to be based on what's right for customers and team members first. I view this as a once-in-alifetime opportunity. We're building something for the ages.”

As the economy continues to experience challenges in 2009, it is unclear how many more banks will merge, consolidate and/or fail. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in a November 26 press release, the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency expanded the potential pool of buyers for failed banks, and is now allowing investors and individuals to participate in the bidding process. Previously only “chartered banks and savings institutions” were involved. Increased interest from non-bank investors has been driving the need to open the process to more bidders.