First Union Corporation was a bank holding company providing commercial and retail banking services in eleven states in the eastern U.S. First Union also provided various other financial services, including mortgage banking, credit card, investment banking (First Union Securities), investment advisory, home equity lending, asset-based lending, leasing, insurance, international and securities brokerage services and private equity (First Union Capital Partners), through other subsidiaries.In September 2001, First Union completed a merger with Wachovia National Bank to become Wachovia Corporation, one of the largest financial holding companies in the US. As of the end of 2000, First Union had over $170 billion of total assets, over 70,000 employees and nearly 2,200 branches.