A pleasant surprise this morning to read that Wachovia is being wholly taken over by Wells. 

Wells Fargo in a Deal to Buy All of Wachovia | NY Times

Wachovia’s deal with Wells Fargo will further concentrate Americans’ bank deposits in the hands of just three banks: Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo would control more than 30 percent of the industry’s deposits. Together, those three would be so large that they would dominate the industry, with unrivaled power to set prices for their loans and services. Given their size and reach, the institutions would probably come under greater scrutiny from federal regulators. Some small and midsize banks, already under pressure, might have little choice but to seek suitors.

This is good for two reasons imho. 

1. It provides Wells greater scale to promote their internet strategies for financial services.  As the clear leader in that area, this is good for the industry, and should make for some interesting news on this blog.  The operationally efficient and frankly boring Citi would have had the opposite effect had that deal gone ahead to break up Wachovia…  which leads to the second point
2. Wachovia has customer loyalty, and this deal keeps the bank intact, aligns with another bank that has customer loyalty, and the combination should be even better for customers.