Nervous Charlotte ponders the future of Wachovia

"It's important for me to build relationships with both possible suitors because I'm going to be trying to save as many jobs as possible for Charlotte," said Mayor Pat McCrory, who put his campaign for governor on hold Tuesday to met with Citigroup officials. "And who the end suitor is is out of my control. It's going to be dependent upon the private sector to work that deal out."

But McCrory said he's confident the city will maintain a "very large presence in the financial sector, regardless of the choice that's made."

Outside the downtown office buildings filled with bank employees, the talk centered Friday on the competing deals for Wachovia. Some said they were surprised by the agreement, and the mood was a little more upbeat than on Monday. There were words of praise for Wells Fargo, which agreed to buy the entire company--and not just Wachovia's retail bank, as had Citi.

"Clearly for shareholders, it's a better deal. They're buying the entire Wachovia operations at a higher price. And some of those operations are going to stay in Charlotte," said Michael Walden, an economics professor at North Carolina State University. "But mergers generally result in job losses because of overlap. How many is the big question."

Wachovia employee Roy Johnson said the dueling deals leaves employees apprehensive, and thinking about sending updated resumes over to Bank of America. That company, the nation's largest bank by market share, is continuing to grow--it bought troubled investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co.--while Wachovia is about to "lose its identity."

"I never thought this would happen," he said. "No one did."