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Wells Fargo

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Wells Fargo

San Francisco

Assets: $609 billion
Deposits: $318.4 billion
Stock performance YTD: +10.1%
Employees: 160,500

Wells Fargo (WFC), which has taken $10 billion in mortgage losses to date, was among the banks rumored to be bidding for Wachovia. A deal would have helped the bank, whose business is concentrated in Western states, to expand its retail banking operation nationally and compete with its larger rivals. Wells Fargo has 6,100 branches in 23 states.