In a new bank that is truly national and the largest the Wells Fargo acquisition of Wachovia is expected to take three years to complete. Its an extraordinary scale of branches that are involved now, and will be interesting to see how that plays out with Wells internet focus.

Wachovia deal not without its risks | FT.com

The deal will dramatically expand Wells’ franchise east of the Mississippi River, creating a coast-to-coast network of 12,200 branches – larger than those ofBank of America and JPMorgan Chase. The combined bank will have $1,420bn in assets and $787bn in deposits.