Natalie Pruett, First Union's communications manager for Virginia, said Friday that no decision has been made about what to do with the First Union and Wachovia banks in the Winchester area. Wachovia and First Union have banks across Loudoun Street from each other. We're looking at traffic patterns and customer bases. No branches will close until the end of 2002. Kelly also said the banks will close a data center fairly quickly.
Banks use such centers to store customer account information on mainframe computers.
About half the savings will come in the first 17 months after the deal is final, Kelly said. The merger is expected to close in the year's third quarter.