Wachovia: Model behaviour

Ken Thompson has a credibility problem. After raising $3.5bn in capital in February, the Wachovia boss said that his bank was well-positioned to ride out the mortgage turmoil this year. Now, he’s been forced to pass the hat for $7bn more. And after repeatedly denying that Wachovia would cut its dividend, Thompson has wielded the knife there too. A lot of the bank’s pain stems from his ill-advised acquisition of Great West Financial in 2006, which lumbered Wachovia with a huge portfolio of subpri...