Oct. 12--Wells Fargo successfully fought off Citigroup in its effort to buy an ailing Wachovia, but the fallout from the battle was ugly.

Wachovia, which acquired SouthTrust in 2005, has two branches in Decatur and one in Hartselle. The Decatur branches employ 25 workers, with 11 on the Hartselle payroll.

Wells Fargo said it had no plans for a major layoff of Wachovia employees. One of the benefits of the deal is that the territories of Wachovia and Wells Fargo do not overlap.

"We know this has been a time of great uncertainty for Wachovia team members and many of its customers as their company has gone through a very painful and challenging time," Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf said.

"We want to assure them we'll do everything we can to make the integration of our operations as smooth as possible. An important measure of success for this integration will be our ability to retain as many of the talented Wachovia team members as possible."

The bank controlled about 8 percent of Morgan County deposits as of June 30.

If national figures are indicative, that percentage may be lower now.

Citigroup agreed to drop its lawsuits, which alleged it had a binding deal to buy Wachovia, on Thursday. It said it plans to sue Wachovia and Wells Fargo for $60 billion.

The shareholders have no say in the Wells Fargo takeover.

Wachovia announced Saturday it would rely on a New York Stock Exchange rule that permits it to forgo stockholder approval if the process would seriously jeopardize its financial viability. The stock exchange approved its request to invoke the rule.

On Friday, federal antitrust regulators approved the $11.7 billion acquisition after granting early termination of the usual 30-day waiting period.

Court filings by Citigroup revealed that on Sept. 26, shortly after Washington Mutual failed, Wachovia lost $5 billion in deposits in a "silent run" on the bank. Bank deposits down

In another court document unsealed Friday, a Wachovia executive said the bank's deposits dropped by another $2.4 billion on Monday after Citigroup tried to block the Wells Fargo bid.

Local Wachovia officials have declined comment.

While Wells Fargo and Citigroup engaged in their whirlwind legal battle over their shaky target, a congressional publication reported that Wachovia had agreed to lend $8 million to the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Wachovia on Friday filed a proposed settlement of a class action suit in a Pennsylvania federal court. The settlement could require the bank to pay more than $200 million, according to court records.

The settlement ended a dispute that began with an investigation by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The agency said telemarketers that had account relations with the bank obtained bank account information via the phone by offering consumers a range of questionable products and services. The telemarketers then had Wachovia withdraw funds from consumers' accounts.

The settlement includes $15 million for the plaintiffs' lawyers.

The combined company will be called Wells Fargo and be based in San Francisco. It will have $1.42 trillion in assets, $787 billion in deposits and 280,000 employees. It will have 10,700 branches and 12,200 ATMs.

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