A management shake-up at Wachovia Corp. should be received well by investors, an analyst said Friday, after the bank's chief financial officer resigned.
The nation's fourth-biggest bank by assets said late Thursday Chief Financial Officer Thomas J. Wurtz, 46, is stepping down.
Wurtz's departure follows the bank's larger-than-expected $8.86 billion second-quarter loss, reported on Tuesday.
The bank, which slashed its dividend and cut 10,750 jobs, also recently named Robert Steel to replace Chief Executive Ken Thompson, who was ousted by the bank's board in June.
Sandler O'Neill & Partners analyst Kevin Fitzsimmons, who rates shares of Wachovia "Hold," said he expects investors will view Wurtz's departure positively because it signals that Steel is trying to amass a team to overhaul the bank. Fitzsimmons said he suspects an outside, objective candidate is ideal.
"We think investors, while probably not terribly surprised by the announcement, will generally conclude 'change is good' at Wachovia," Fitzsimmons wrote in a note to investors.
Fitzsimmons warned, however, that the departure does create uncertainty in a senior-level position for a bank that's already dealing with a number of challenges and trying to weather the credit crisis.
Shares of the bank have declined 53.6 percent so far this year.