There’s a new public face for Wells Fargo & Co. in the county.
Hector Retta has taken over as regional president from Kim Young, who recently moved to San Diego to head the company’s Southern California market, which also includes Imperial, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Both consider their new jobs to be promotions at the San Francisco-based bank, according to Retta.
Retta takes over from Young, who led the Orange County market for a decade, overseeing nearly 3,000 employees and 90 branches. Young oversees 160 branches in her new job.
Retta, 55, previously headed the company’s cross border banking with Mexico from Texas.
The lifelong Texan of Hispanic heritage said he faces challenges in his new job.
Wells bought troubled Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia Corp. for $12.7 billion at the end of last year. The deal boosted Wells’ market share by deposits in the county by $5 billion to about $14 billion, enough to edge out Bank of America Corp.’s $13.7 billion to become the largest here by deposits, according to government data.
Wells plans to rename Wachovia branches as Wells Fargo in the fourth quarter.
Retta said he plans to follow Young’s strategy of growth but with a different style.
“Whenever you have a change in leadership at the regional level, there’s often a change in style,” he said.
Young and Retta report to Lisa Stevens, regional president of California in Los Angeles.
Wells has been considered one of the sturdier banks in the country after competitors came into trouble and had to be bailed out by the government or other banks.
Earlier in Retta’s career, he spent nine years with JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s private client services division where he worked with wealthy clients in Mexico and Central America. He spent 16 years at Bank of America in its international banking unit.
