Sep. 8--Speculation was building Sunday that Wachovia Corp. could name its new chief financial officer as early as today.

Sources said Wachovia was getting close to filling this top position, and new chief executive Bob Steel may want the task completed before he speaks to investors and analysts Tuesday morning at a financial services conference in New York.

Steel told analysts in early August that he expected to find a successor for the retiring Tom Wurtz in about a month but hasn't yet named a replacement. The CFO serves as the bank's top number-cruncher and a point-person to Wall Street analysts.

Wachovia spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown declined to comment, as did recruiter Andrea Redmond, who is assisting with the search.

Few names have surfaced as possible candidates for the job. One of them, former Bank of America Corp. executive and Fifth Third Bancorp CFO Chris Marshall, declined comment.

A new name getting attention is David Zwiener, a managing director at the Carlyle Group private-equity firm. He was previously an executive and CFO at insurance firm The Hartford Financial Services Group. He's a Duke University graduate like Steel.

Neither Zwiener nor a Carlyle spokesman could be reached for comment.

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