The rationale for many a bank merger has been undercut by poor integration at the IT level. Will Wells Fargo run into this as it tries to digest the IT assets of Wachovia?

The top executives heading up the efforts are optimistic that the integration is right on track. The effort was slated to span three years; two have already passed. Another milestone was hit when all of the Wachovia branches in the Northeast were re-opened under the Wells Fargo brand.

The integration "dramatically affects the technology operations group's 24,000 members, 4100 applications, 1,700 annual projects, 73,000 servers and 12,000 ATMs," notes Bank Systems & Technology. "For scale, the group processes 6.3 billion prime pass items, 93 million wholesale lockbox transactions, and 128 million ATM deposits a year, in addition to sending out 656 million paper statements a year."

Most of the IT work has been completed, which is paving the way for accounts to be converted. The constituent brokerages are all on the same platform, as are the credit cards and ATMs. DDA accounts are next. Such accounts, along with mortgages, are moving to Wells Fargo's platform. Brokerage accounts have all been moved to Wachovia's system. For loan originations, the bank is building a new system apparently.

All in all, the projected savings have been realized, but the bank says it isn't stopping until even more savings are carved out.

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