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MINNEAPOLIS Peter Siddons, a Wells Fargo mortgage executive, understands the anger, worry and sense of loss Wachovia workers feel at the collapse of what had been the nation's fourth-largest bank.
He had been with a mortgage company for about 10 years when it went up for sale in the mid-'90s following problems he hadn't known about.
“You feel betrayed,” he said. “It was out of our control, nothing we did.”
Norwest bought the company, and soon after there was another worrisome jolt for Siddons. In 1998, Norwest was the Minneapolis bank that bought Wells Fargo, took the more recognizable name and moved its headquarters to San Francisco. Job worries then proved largely unfounded as the bank's growth continued, driving employment in the Twin Cities area to an increase of nearly 50 percent in the past decade.
Now Wells is buying Wachovia, a deal almost certain to eliminate some of the bank's 20,000 jobs in its headquarters city of Charlotte. Wells chief executive John Stumpf has raised the Minneapolis growth story more than once but makes clear that he's not promising a repeat in Charlotte.
In Minneapolis, the deal has sparked excitement and empathy among Wells workers.
‘I understand how they feel'
Peter Siddons was on the team talking with bidders for his previous employer.
The Norwest group's approach and style of doing business impressed him.
“I hope they buy us,” he remembers thinking, and that's what happened.
Soon after, Norwest bought Wells. Siddons recalls worries about job losses and what would become of the bank's community giving – both concerns in Charlotte.
“I understand how they feel,” he said of soon-to-be colleagues at Wachovia. “It's an emotional roller coaster.”
Looking back, he says, “From a personal level, nothing but good has come from it.” He's now a senior vice president with Wells mortgage operations and a leader in civic activities. “Numbers are very important to this company,” he said, “but it's equally important: Did we do it the right way?”
Executive feels the buzz
John Rasmussen, a senior vice president on Wells' mortgage side, has followed the wild weeks of deal-making that started last month.
“We've had people reach out to us within the Wachovia family and say, ‘We're glad it's you,'” said Rasmussen, a 20-year veteran of financial services. “We're proud of that.”
The deal would make Wells No. 1 in branches. Wells has said Charlotte would be the East Coast headquarters but hasn't provided details. Rasmussen and others said they've heard no talk of moving Wachovia work to Minneapolis – or vice versa.
“There's excitement around the organization about Wachovia, the broader footprint, serving more families,” he said. “The buzz is going.”
Her faith rewarded
Muffie Gabler wondered back in 1998 how the Wells Fargo merger would affect her job as well as the bank's lending and giving to the low- and moderate-income communities, small businesses and nonprofits she worked with.
Gabler, who headed community development for Norwest in three states, was reassured when she saw how the banks' products and geographic reach would be complementary. That's true, to some degree, in the Wachovia merger.
“It was clear our vision, the culture and values, weren't going to change,” she said.
That culture includes encouraging employees to volunteer and be active in the community. For Gabler, that's also part of her job.
Wells, she found, had a better system for tracking community development work. That freed Gabler and her team from time spent logging paperwork. Gabler, a vice president, now oversees the bank's community development work in 17 states.
She's been impressed that management is receptive even when the message isn't positive. For example, she has been working a lot with community leaders tackling foreclosures. They complained foreclosure counselors couldn't get through to Wells mortgage servicing agents on the phone. Gabler said the company dedicated a toll-free number for the counselors.
“Our communities are only as healthy as our businesses,” she said, another popular Wells precept.
