Deal by end of day?

Citigroup Lays Out Wachovia Claims

Excerpts:

“I think we will have one today” that is in accord with the public interest, the F.D.I.C. chairman, Sheila Bair, said at a conference in Washington, according to The Associated Press. She did not elaborate.

...
A showdown between two of the nation’s largest banks over Wachovia has grown into a widening battle involving two courts and a cast including the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, and an army of bankers, lawyers and other regulators. With financial markets already unnerved by the crisis in the global economy, Mr. Bernanke and Timothy F. Geithner, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, have sought to spur the parties toward a resolution over the weekend. One option is to split Wachovia’s banking operations into two regions.

Mr. Bernanke had several telephone calls with Citigroup’s chief, Vikram S. Pandit, and Wells Fargo’s chairman, Richard M. Kovacevich, to try to resolve the dispute, according to two people briefed on the calls. The two banking executives never spoke directly to each other, one of those people said. Mr. Bernanke also briefed Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. on the discussions.