Norwest, Wells Fargo urged to help the poor

The protesters included members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and the United Steel Workers of America.

The meeting, held Thursday at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, was to give people a chance to voice their concerns about the merger. Thirty-six people testified in favor of the deal, 19 spoke against it and three expressed mixed feelings.

"We need Norwest's help to develop better home mortgage products that would be more responsive to the particular needs of many of our hard-working, low-income families," said merger opponent state Rep. Karen Clark of Minneapolis.

Norwest officials downplayed those concerns and others about corporate giving and job loss.

"It's been kind of a hallmark of Norwest to operate in smaller communities," Norwest President Les Biller said. "We think we know how to do that well and profitably and we would expect to continue to do that."

Company officials said that of the 830 people who will be displaced if the headquarters moves to the Wells Fargo headquarters of San Francisco, most Norwest jobs would be eliminated through attrition or employees would be trained for other jobs.

The Fed will examine the combined entity's financial and managerial strength, future prospects and effect on competition, and community reinvestment issues before ruling on whether to approve it.

The deal, estimated to be worth about $30 billion in stock, would create the seventh-largest bank in the nation with about $190 billion in assets and more than 90 million banking customers. The deal is expected to close by the end of the fourth quarter.

Wells Fargo promised last month to make $15 billion in loans available to low-income and minority borrowers in California if the Fed approves the merger.

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