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Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB) will close 18 South Florida branches in November and two more early next year as it completes the Florida portion of the merger of First Union and Wachovia banking operations.
Wachovia, based in Charlotte, N.C., released a list of 18 branches on Monday night. All are branches of Wachovia Bank.
The bank holding company sent letters to customers of those branches during the week of Aug. 12, telling them of the closings and providing a list of nearby offices to which they will be able to transfer deposits and other accounts.
The company will close the 18 offices "in mid-November" and it plans to announce a closing date within several weeks, Wachovia spokeswoman Mary Beth Navarro said.
Next month, Wachovia plans to tell customers that two other branches in Miami-Dade County will close early next year.
The company is still renovating two nearby branches that will remain open, said Carlos Migoya, the Miami-Dade County market president for Wachovia and First Union.
The 20 closings will leave Wachovia Corp. with about 185 branches in South Florida, a network that is still second-largest in the region behind Bank of America.
About 150 of those offices are now First Union offices.
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