As the acquisition of US bank Wachovia by Wells Fargo gets formal shareholder approval, Wells Fargo has named Shelley Freeman, currently regional president for

Los Angeles
County community banking, as the head of community banking operations in

Florida.

The firm said that no decisions have been made on her management team in

Florida.

Ms Freeman took over the

Los Angeles
County position in August 2002, having joined Wells in 1996 as director of private banking and brokerage administration, combining the financial consultant sales force with private banking. She has also served as head of the bank’s private client services’ marketing, product development and management group.

Wells Fargo, based in San Francisco, does not currently have a commercial banking presence in Florida, but Wachovia is the largest bank by deposit market share in Florida and second only to Bank of America in the Tampa Bay area.