ATLANTA — Two mega acquisitions in the banking sector have been completed following the biggest financial crisis to hit the United States since the 1930s, capping a year in which Wall Street was hammered, home foreclosure rates soared and job losses mounted.
Bank of America Corp. said Thursday that it has completed its $19.4 billion all-stock purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co., while Wells Fargo & Co. said it has completed its $12.7 billion all-stock purchase of Wachovia Corp.
Merrill Lynch’s sale to Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America, announced Sept. 15, creates the nation’s largest financial services company.
San Francisco-based Wells Fargo’s purchase of Wachovia, a deal that was announced Oct. 3, creates a coast-to-coast powerhouse.
Bank of America said it will have the largest wealth-management business in the world with roughly 20,000 financial advisers and more than $2 trillion in client assets.
Wells Fargo said that with Wachovia, it now has $1.4 trillion in assets and for the first time has a community banking presence in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
