When First Interstate Bank of Utah officially becomes Wells Fargo Bank Monday, it will have come full circle in Utah.
In 1888, Wells Fargo had 127 offices in Utah and was a household name, its now-legendary Concord stagecoach a familiar sight on Main Street.In 1905, Wells Fargo sold its Salt Lake bank to the Walker Brothers Bank, launched in 1859 by four brothers who came to Utah in 1850.
In June 1981, Walker Bank, which had earlier joined the First Interstate system, officially changed its name to First Interstate Bank of Utah. On Monday, the circle will be closed as Wells Fargo returns to Utah.
But don't expect any instant April Fools' Day metamorphosis of First Interstate into Wells Fargo. For now, First Interstate custom- ers won't be able to tell the difference.
"It will be business as usual," confirmed Dan Conway, spokesman for Wells Fargo & Co., the San Francisco-based financial services company founded in 1852 on the heels of the Gold Rush. In January, Wells Fargo won a three-month hostile takeover bid for Los Angeles-based First Interstate.
The $11.6 billion stock deal was the richest in banking history and creates the nation's eighth-largest bank. Wells Fargo is paying First Interstate shareholders two-thirds of a share of its stock for each First Interstate share. Combined assets of the two banks total $108.4 billion.
First Interstate's Utah management team, 330 employees and 32 branches will not be immediately affected, Conway said Friday. However, Wells Fargo has made no secret that the merger will inevitably mean some layoffs of employees from both banking companies as the two systems are interlaced.
"We have no announcements of cutbacks at this time," said Conway. "That doesn't mean we won't make changes down the road, but we need First Interstate's branch network, that's why we made the acquisition."
Wells Fargo operates only in California. With the takeover, it acquires First Interstate's banking system in 12 other Western states, including Utah.
"This acquisition will take many months to work through, integrating our facilities, computers, employees and various products and services," said Conway.
"It's the biggest bank merger in history, and it will be managed by the existing First Interstate managers in Utah and elsewhere. They know their business and what has to be done. Things won't change right away."
Most of the branch closures and employee layoffs are expected to be made in California where Wells Fargo and First Interstate now have competing, and in some cases overlapping, operations. That's not the case in Utah, where Wells Fargo has no banks.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Wells Fargo in Utah
- 1855-58 - Wells Fargo messenger Frank Gilbert makes monthly trips from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, serving settlements along the way.
- 1861 - Wells Fargo assumes operation of the Pony Express system west of Salt Lake City.
- 1865 - Wells Fargo opens Salt Lake office, which includes a banking house to handle gold and silver being transported overland.
- 1866 - Wells Fargo takes over entire overland stage route and orders 40 new Concord coaches from Abbot-Downing Co. of New Hampshire. Wells Fargo's stagecoach empire is headquartered in Salt Lake City and becomes the largest in the world, stretching from California to Nebraska. In 1868, Theodore F. Tracy takes charge of Wells Fargo's staging operations in Salt Lake City.
- 1869 - With the driving of the Golden Spike in May at Promontory, joining the Central Pacific and Union Pacific rails, railroads become the nation's major transport system and Ogden the major rail hub.
- 1888 - Wells Fargo operates 127 offices in Utah.
- 1905 - Wells Fargo Bank in Salt Lake City is sold to Walker Brothers Bank, which later becomes Walker Bank & Trust Co.
- 1918 - The federal government nationalizes the nation's express companies into a single federal entity. Wells Fargo is forced to sell its express horses, coaches and offices, ending its presence in Utah.
- 1981 - Walker Bank, which had earlier joined the First Interstate System, officially becomes First Interstate Bank of Utah.
- 1996 - Wells Fargo & Co. acquires First Interstate Bank of Utah as part of an $11.6 billion hostile takeover of Los-Angeles-based First Interstate Bancorp and once again is back in business in Utah.