Wachovia names Treasury honcho CEO

Robert K. Steel, undersecretary for domestic finance in the Department of the Treasury, is the new president and CEO.

Wachovia Corp. has selected Robert K. Steel, undersecretary for domestic finance in the Department of the Treasury, as its new president and chief executive.
The hiring of Mr. Steel concludes a six-week search that started in June after the Charlotte, N.C.-based firm’s board of directors asked G. Kennedy Thomson to leave in the wake of write-downs, bad acquisitions and weak financial results.
Prior to his work for the government, Mr. Steel spent 28 years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. of New York.
He retired as a vice chairman of the New York-based firm in February 2004.
Mr. Steel inherits the reins of the nation’s fourth largest bank, which yesterday announced that it would report a second-quarter loss ranging between $2.6 billion and $2.8 billion July 22.
Prior to Mr. Thomson’s departure, the company posted a $708 million loss in the first quarter, stemming predominantly from write-downs.
Mr. Thomson was criticized for bank’s $24.2 billion purchase in October 2006 of Golden West Financial Corp., an Oakland, Calif.-based mortgage specialist and savings and loan.