May 22--Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp has tapped two former Wachovia Corp. bankers in recent weeks to open a new capital markets and corporate banking office in Charlotte.

Jim Kelligrew will head an investment-grade fixed-income group, which includes the trading of bonds issued by large corporations, while Charles Dee O'Dell will lead corporate banking for the Southeast, U.S. Bancorp spokesman Steve Dale said Thursday. The office, housed in temporary space in uptown's Hearst Tower, is expected to expand to 30 to 35 people this year.

U.S. Bancorp is the latest financial institution to target Charlotte for expansion as the city's big banks shed workers and merge operations. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. is scaling back after buying Wachovia Dec. 31, and Bank of America Corp. is slashing jobs as part of its Merrill Lynch & Co. acquisition. Since last summer, investment banks Lazard Ltd., Robert W. Baird & Co. and Sagent Advisors Inc. have launched offices here with former Wachovia bankers.

Financial services jobs, however, have seen a big decline here recently. Total finance and insurance jobs in the Charlotte area fell to 55,200 in March from 59,100 in December, according to the latest U.S. Labor Department data.

U.S. Bancorp is the nation's sixth biggest bank with $264 billion in assets and 2,800 branches in 24 states. It already has about 100 employees in Charlotte in a corporate trust business acquired from Wachovia in 2005.

While the bank has retail banking mostly in the Midwest and West, it has a national presence in corporate banking and other businesses, Dale said. The corporate bank has been led since 2006 by Richard Payne Jr., who has worked for Bank of America and Wachovia predecessor First Union Corp. in Charlotte.

Wells Fargo announced internally in March that Kelligrew was leaving as the company detailed its new leadership team. O'Dell had been a managing director in the bank's consumer and health care group.

U.S. Bancorp is in the process of seeking permanent space for its new Charlotte office, Dale said.

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