base. By the end of 2004, SouthTrust had $53 billion in assets and 712 branches in nine states. Merger with Wachovia On Monday June 21, 2004 Wachovia Corporation announced it would buy SouthTrust in an all-stock transaction valued at $14.3 billion. The merger closed on November 1, 2004. The Birmingham market was the last market for the conversion to the Wachovia brand which occurred in October 2005. Criticism About a year before the merger was announced, Wallace Malone, the company's CEO, quietly moved SouthTrust's commercial banking division headquarters from Birmingham to Atlanta. When the public found out, Malone quickly assured the city and employees that SouthTrust's corporate headquarters would remain in Birmingham. Soon after, when Malone was asked in a local newspaper whether he would ever consider selling the bank in the future, he responded by saying he believed SouthTrust was better on its own than combined with any other bank. Even within the company, he strongly preached to employees that the bank would stay independent. This caused residents of Birmingham to be blindsided when the news that SouthTrust had reached a deal to sell itself to Wachovia was announced. The biggest loss to Birmingham came from SouthTrust moving its commercial banking division to Atlanta a year before the merger was announced, and that Atlanta, not Birmingham, would end up with Wachovia's Southern Banking Group headquarters. Around 1,700 of the 4,000 local SouthTrust jobs were lost in Birmingham due to the merger. Many former SouthTrust Customers have defected to banks like Regions and BBVA Compass. Malone's golden parachute When the merger was completed, Malone's $100 million golden parachute went into effect. The New York Times put this figure closer to $135 million. Malone has stated that somewhere around 40% of that total will go into a trust for the families affected by the SouthTrust-Wachovia merger, although nothing further has been mentioned yet regarding this matter. Trademark acquisition In 2013, First National Bank of George West, based in south Texas acquired the rights to the name SouthTrust Bank. The new SouthTrust Bank is not affiliated with the original SouthTrust Bank of Alabama, acquiring only the trademark rights to the name as an effort to distinguish their brand amongst other national banks. The new SouthTrust Bank, N. A. offers financial services in various Texas markets including Floresville, TX, Houston, TX, San Antonio, TX, Three Rivers, TX, Pleasanton, TX, and George West, TX.