• Posted on Friday, July 25, 2008
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Wachovia's CFO resigns just days after huge loss reported

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By Christina Rexrode | Charlotte Observer

In the first high-profile casualty under the new Wachovia regime, the bank announced Thursday evening that its chief financial officer is leaving.

Tom Wurtz, one of former chief executive Ken Thompson's top lieutenants, is the bank's top number cruncher and its primary face to analysts and investors. He became CFO a few months before Wachovia's ill-fated purchase of Golden West Financial Corp. in 2006.

His departure comes two days after Wachovia announced an $8.9 billion quarterly loss and a turnaround plan that includes transforming the mortgage unit and cutting more than 10,000 jobs. It comes two weeks after a new chief executive, Bob Steel, was brought in to clean house and restore the struggling bank to its former glory.

Wurtz, 46, will leave after his replacement has been named, and the search is to begin immediately. A Wachovia spokeswoman declined to comment on why Wurtz is leaving or whether his successor will come from inside or outside the bank.

Analysts had predicted that Steel, an alumnus of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and the U.S. Treasury, would have to shake up senior management and the board of directors in order to do his job effectively.

Read the full story at Charlotte.com.

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