Citigroup to Buy Wachovia’s Banking Operations
Yet another bank is being bought out in the aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced this morning that Citigroup will acquire the banking operations of Wachovia, the New York Times reports. The move further concentrates bank deposits in the hands of just three banks: Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup. The Washington Post story on the buyout labels the big three “financial behemoths.”
Citigroup will pay about $1 a share, for a total of $2.2 billion, and will acquire most of Wachovia’s assets and liabilities. Wachovia will retain the retail brokerage firm A.G. Edwards and the money management arm Evergreen Investments.
Last week, federal regulators seized—and sold—the troubled Washington Mutual bank to JPMorgan Chase for $1.9 billion.
