Wachovia Securities

Infobox Company
name = Wachovia Securities

type = Public
genre = Securities
foundation = September 4, 2001
founder =
location_city = St. Louis, Missouri
location_country = United States
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assets = $1.17 trillion
equity =
owner =
num_employees = 17,900
parent = Wachovia Corp.
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slogan =
homepage = [http://www.wachoviasec.com/ wachoviasec.com]
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intl =

Wachovia Securities, located in St. Louis, Missouri, is the second largest brokerage firm in the United States as of October 1, 2007 with $1.17 trillion retail client assets under management.cite web | title = Why Wachovia Securities? | publisher = Wachovia Corporation | url = http://www.wachoviasec.com/wachoviasec/WachoviaSecCommand | accessdate = 2008-04-04]
It still remains a subsidiary of Wachovia Corporation along with A.G. Edwards and Evergreen Investments cite web | title = Wachovia Subsidiaries | publisher = Wachovia Corporation | url = http://www.wachovia.com/inside/page/0,,134_307%5E1803,00.html | accessdate = 2008-09-29]

History

Wachovia Securities was created by a merger of the banking arms of First Union Corporation and Wachovia Corporation.cite press release | title = Wachovia and First Union Complete Merger to Become the New Wachovia | publisher = Wachovia Corporation | date = 2001-09-04 | url = http://wachovia.com/inside/page/0,,134_307%5E653,00.html | accessdate =2008-04-04 ] At First Union, it began as the investment firm of J.C. Wheat & Co. in 1934. Wheat fostered growth through mergers, including the 1971 merger with First Securities that created Wheat First Securities, Inc. and the 1988 merger with Butcher & Singer, a successful Philadelphia-based securities firm established in 1910; the firm then became known as Wheat First Butcher Singer. In August 1997, the privately held Wheat First Butcher Singer agreed to be acquired for just under $500 million by the Charlotte, North Carolina-based First Union bank. The brokerage firm changed its name to Wheat First Union, reflecting its newly acquired status. In April 1999, First Union acquired Chicago-based investment bank and brokerage Everen Capital Corp. for $1.1 billion. On the Wachovia side, Wachovia Corporation acquired the brokerage firm Interstate Johnson Lane in April 1999, and changed the name to IJL Wachovia.

Prudential Securities purchase

Wachovia Securities and the Prudential Securities Division of Prudential Financial combined to form the new Wachovia Securities on July 1, 2003. Wachovia owns 62% of this entity, while Prudential Financial owns 38%. At the time, the new firm had client assets of $532.1 billion, making it the nation's third largest full service retail brokerage firm based on assets.cite press release | title = Wachovia Corp. and Prudential Financial, Inc. Complete Combination of Brokerage Units | publisher = Wachovia Corporation | date = 2003-07-01 | url = http://www.wachovia.com/inside/page/0,,134_307%5E906,00.html | accessdate = 2007-10-14 ]

A. G. Edwards purchase

In May 2007, Wachovia Securities announced the purchase of A. G. Edwards of St. Louis, Missouri and its upcoming move to St. Louis as its new world headquarters. The new firm is the second largest brokerage firm in the United States. The shareholder vote took place and was finalized on October 1, 2007.

NASD

On June 21, 2007, the NASD fined Wachovia Securities $2 million for failing to adequately supervise its fee-based brokerage business between 2001 through 2004. In addition, NASD ordered Wachovia to identify and pay restitution to approximately 1,300 customers who were inappropriately allowed to continue maintaining fee-based accounts, or who were inappropriately charged account fees on Class A mutual fund share holdings for which they had already paid a sales load. [cite press release | title = NASD Fines Wachovia Securities $2 Million for Fee-Based Account Violations | publisher = Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc | date = 2007-06-21 | url = http://www.finra.org/PressRoom/NewsReleases/2007NewsReleases/p019312 | accessdate = 2008-04-04]

References

External links

* [http://www.wachoviasec.com/ Wachovia Securities]