Wachovia execs may get $98.1 million severance

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wachovia Corp WB.N, which lost $33 billion in the last two quarters, said 10 top executives may be entitled to $98.1 million in severance pay after the bank is acquired by Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N).

In a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Wachovia said the executives would receive severance under their employment agreements if the merger closes by December 31, as expected. Wachovia said shareholders will vote on the merger on Dec 23.

The 10 executives do not include Robert Steel, who in July replaced the ousted Ken Thompson as Wachovia's chief executive, and does not have an employment agreement.

Wachovia also said a closing would entitle its 11 executive officers, who include Steel, as well as Chairman Lanty Smith to $2.5 million in equity-based awards under existing stock incentive plans. But the executives' stock options are worthless, the bank said.

U.S. regulators pushed Wachovia to find a merger partner after losses soared on a $118.7 billion portfolio of option adjustable-rate mortgages. The bank largely took these on when it bought California's Golden West Financial Corp in 2006.

Wells Fargo agreed on October 3 to buy Wachovia for $15.1 billion in stock, trumping a lower bid by Citigroup Inc (C.N). The merger value had fallen to roughly $9.3 billion as of November 21 because Wells Fargo shares had fallen.

Wachovia is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Wells Fargo in San Francisco. The combined company would be the fourth-largest U.S. bank, with about $1.4 trillion of assets.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)