2:00PM New York - America’s fourth largest bank Wachovia Corp. reported net loss of $393 million after ill-timed move in the mortgage securities and weak credit standards.

Quarterly Earnings Review

Wachovia Corp. reported that total revenues in the first quarter ending in March rose to $7.9 billion from $7.4 billion from a year ago. Net interest income in the period advanced to $4.8 billion from $4.5 billion a year ago.

For the quarter, a net loss of $393 million was realized compared to income of $2.3 billion in the first quarter of 2007 as loans losses in mortgage securities were $2 billion.

Loss per share in the quarter was 20 cents compared to net income of $1.20 a share a year ago.

Wachovia Corp. declared a quarterly common stock dividend of $0.375 cents per common share, payable on June 16, 2008, to stockholders of record on May 30, 2008, 41% lower than in the same period a year ago.

Segment Review

General Bank

During the quarter to March, Wachovia’s general banking earnings, which includes retail, small business and commercial customers, dropped by $249 million to $1.2 billion as mounting credit costs and related expenses offset the sales.

In the first quarter total revenue rose 5% to $4.5 billion.

Average loan growth was 8% during the quarter while mortgage lending increased 4%. There was also a restructure in the mortgage business as more effort was focused on loss mitigation efforts and increasing the volume of marketable mortgages.

Wholesale and retail deposits were also strong during the quarter as they grew 10% and 4% respectively. On the overall, average core deposit rose 5%.

Also new retail checking accounts slowed from 268,000 in the same comparative quarter a year ago to 174,000, of which 139,000 linked to the new Way2Save accounts that were launched in mid-January 2008.

Fee and other income rose 17% buoyed by service charges, interchange income and mortgage banking fee income. Wachovia and other banks continue to charge high fees for account maintenance, wire transfers and other services. While the banks have been losing money on bets made on subprime loans, general banking consumer, the bedrock of core banking clients are charged higher and higher fees.

Loan loss provision increased to $422 million on the rapid deterioration in real estate values in certain housing markets and higher losses on auto loans.

Wealth Management

Earnings in the wealth management division - private banking, personal trust, investment advisory services, charitable services, financial planning and insurance brokerage -increased to $92 million first quarter of 2008 as revenues leapt 4%.

Notwithstanding the decline in equity valuations and insurance commissions, strong fiduciary and asset management fees helped leverage growth.

For the quarter, assets under management rose 5% to $79.8 billion “as asset gathering overcame market depreciation”.

Corporate and investment bank