Interim bank chief has deep GSO ties
Source: Washington Business Journal (Original Article)
No, it wasn't a full circle for Wachovia Monday, when the fourth-largest bank in the country announced it was forcing CEO Ken Thompson into retirement and handing the reins on an interim basis to board Chairman Lanty Smith. But there is at least some sense of homecoming in the move for the Triad.
The 2001 merger with First Union that saw Wachovia decamp its corporate headquarters from Winston-Salem to Charlotte is fading from memory. But those halcyon days of youth — before our once-local bank got mixed up with a rough gang of subprime mortgage brokers in the form of 2006 merger partner Golden West — look sweet in the light of Wachovia's $707 million first quarter loss.
Now, it's up to a man with deep and wide roots in the Triad to guide the bank back toward profitability.
"No one understands (Wachovia) better than he does," says Joe Brower, The King of Queens dvd the managing director of Cary Street Partners in Greensboro.