Who's In, Who's Out

Merrill Lynch's CEO John Thain will stay aboard after Bank of America acquires the world's largest brokerage firm while the fate of Wachovia's CEO Robert K. Steel looks uncertain. Meanwhile at the Seattle headquarters of Washington Mutual, new owner JP Morgan Chase & Co. is cleaning house.

Thain agreed to be president of the merged global banking, securities, and wealth-management business once the $48-billion acquisition is completed near the end of the year, according to The Wall Street Journal. According to a Bank of America spokesperson, there is no commitment to Thain to succeed current CEO Kenneth Lewis.

Meanwhile, in a surprise turn of events, Wells Fargo decided to acquire rival Wachovia for approximately $15.1 billion in stock. The announcement comes four days after Citigroup agreed to buy Wachovia’s banking operations for about $2.2 billion, or about $1-per-share, according to The New York Times.

Wells Fargo has not made any commitment to Steel so far.  Wells Fargo CEO Richard M. Kovacevich said the deal provides superior value than the previous offer and will allow growth and success of a combined Wachovia-Wells Fargo that will become one of the world’s largest financial services companies, but did not go into detail as to how Wachovia's executive suite structure will change.

Bank of America is currently grappling with who to keep and who to let go. Among the executives Bank of America is considering keeping from Merrill’s team are: Thomas Montag, a former trader at Goldman Sachs Group, Gregory Fleming, Merrill’s president, and Robert McCann, the Merrill vice chairman in charge of the firm’s 16,690 brokers. Bank of America is expected to keep all three executives, the WSJ reported.

JPMorgan is emptying out the executive floor of Washington Mutual’s Seattle headquarters a week after purchasing WaMu’s banking assets, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Reported to be leaving are WaMu CEO Alan Fishman; Steve Rotella, president; Michael Solender, chief legal officer; executive vice president Todd Baker; Daryl David, chief human resources officer; and Frank Baier, special assistant to Fishman.

WaMu CFO Thomas Casey will stay through December and then leave his post, according to WSJ. Other WaMu executives that will stay include, Alfred Brooks, president of the commercial group; David Schneider, president of home loans; and Anthony Vuoto, president of card services.

JP Morgan will pay some form of severance for employees who qualify under existing WaMu benefit plans. JPMorgan is also trying to resolve issues around the $5 billion in cash held by the holding company before regulators seized it on September 25. Bondholders are hoping to receive some of that cash, according to WSJ.

JPMorgan will not honor change-in-control clauses for top executives, many of whom had contracts stipulating exit packages in the event of a sale. Fishman would have received an additional $11.6 million if he resigned or was terminated, on top of a $7.5 million signing bonus. Fishman will keep the $7.5 million bonus and not pursue the $11.6, according to WSJ.