Wachovia Launches Advanced Internet-Based Financial Supply Chain Management Platform

Wachovia Launches Advanced Internet-Based Financial Supply Chain Management Platform

September 29, 2007

TradeXchange Streamlines, Automates and Provides Visibility
to Import and Export Trade Operations Across Trading
Partners

    CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 29 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/
-- 

    Wachovia Bank, N.A., today announced the launch of
TradeXchange, a secure, Web-based messaging platform
designed to provide greater visibility throughout the
financial supply chain from purchase order delivery through
invoice settlement. 

    "As one of the first banks in the world to
initiate letters of credit over the Internet, we continue
to focus on innovation and technology -- particularly
relating to the evolution of the financial supply
chain," said Steven Nichols, managing director and
head of Global Trade Services in Wachovia's Global
Financial Institutions and Trade Services division.
"Buyers, sellers and their banks must navigate an
increasingly complex international trade environment,
including new challenges created by the movement to open
account transactions. TradeXchange will facilitate this
process by providing critical supply chain tools in a fully
collaborative and real-time environment." 

    Wachovia designed TradeXchange to be intuitive and easy
to use, while adding enhanced functionality, including
facilitating pre- and post-export financing, indemnities
for buyer default, purchase order delivery/acknowledgement,
document preparation, electronic document management and
document compliance.

    Wachovia's philosophy is to be a partner supporting its
global financial institution clients, as opposed to
competing with them in their geographies. In keeping with
this philosophy, Wachovia will leverage its leadership in
trade outsourcing to provide TradeXchange to its
international correspondent banking clients on a private
label basis. 

    "TradeXchange does not just Web-enable old
processes," said John McFadden, managing director and
head of Wachovia's Global Trade Services' product
management. "TradeXchange allows a seller's local bank
to collaborate online and to provide pre- and post-export
finance to its customers. Similarly, a buyer's bank can
benefit by providing value-added purchase order delivery,
credit indemnities and document compliance management. Our
goal in providing TradeXchange on a private label basis is
to re-intermediate our partner banks into the financial
supply chain." 

    William Fitzgerald, managing director and head of
Wachovia's Global Financial Institutions and Trade
Technology group, states that, "Building TradeXchange
is one more example of leveraging our Corporate and
Investment Banking technology platform to provide
innovative trade solutions to our correspondents.
TradeXchange represents a key component of a major
strategic development initiative that eventually replaces
the core platform with a GRID-based Service Oriented
Architecture framework called TradeWorks. The combination
of TradeXchange and TradeWorks will enable Wachovia and our
trade insourcing partner banks to offer a highly extendible
array of trade finance products to their respective
customers."

    About Wachovia Global Financial Institutions and Trade
division

    Wachovia's Global Financial Institutions and Trade
division has a 200-year legacy in International
correspondent banking. FImetrix Research has ranked
Wachovia the No. 1 correspondent bank provider in Asia and
Latin America in market share, No. 4 in Western Europe, and
No. 1 worldwide in overall customer satisfaction. Wachovia
is a global leader in correspondent banking and trade
services and maintains more than 3,000 correspondent
relationships in more than 130 countries through a network
of 44 offices, including eight overseas branches.

    About Wachovia

    Wachovia Corporation (NYSE: WB) is one of the nation's
largest diversified financial services companies, with
assets of $719.9 billion and market capitalization of $97.5
billion at June 30, 2007. Wachovia provides a broad range of
retail banking and brokerage, asset and wealth management,
and corporate and investment banking products and services
to 13 million household and business customers. Wachovia
has 3,400 retail financial centers in 21 states from
Connecticut to Florida and west to Texas and California,
and nationwide retail brokerage, mortgage lending and auto
finance businesses. Globally, clients are served in
selected corporate and institutional sectors and through
more than 40 international offices. Our retail brokerage
operations under the Wachovia Securities brand name manage
more than $795 billion in client assets through
approximately 10,800 registered representatives in 774
offices in 48 states and through service affiliate offices
in Latin America. Online banking is available at
wachovia.com; online brokerage products and services at
wachoviasec.com; and investment products and services at
evergreeninvestments.com.

    In May 2007, Wachovia announced an agreement to acquire
A.G. Edwards, Inc., a financial services holding company
whose primary subsidiary is the national investment firm of
A.G. Edward & Sons, Inc. A.G. Edwards and its affiliates
employ 6,623 financial consultants in 741 offices nationwide
and two European locations in London and Geneva. This
proposed acquisition is expected to be completed in the
fourth quarter of 2007, pending the approval of A.G.
Edwards shareholders and applicable regulatory approvals.


    For more information, please contact:

     Victoria Wolfram 
     Wachovia Corporation
     Phone: [phone]