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SEC reviewing Steel's TV comments on Wachovia: report


    NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are probing former Wachovia Corp Chief Executive Robert Steel over comments he made on television about his bank the day before it started talks about a potential merger, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Friday.

    Citing people familiar with the matter, the paper said the Securities and Exchange Commission has been probing whether Steel, a former Treasury Department official, misled investors in an appearance on CNBC's Mad Money show during the height of the financial panic last September.

    "In an extremely challenging and volatile time, Mr. Steel always did his best to convey the position of Wachovia accurately. Should any questions arise, he is very comfortable addressing them," the Journal quoted a spokesman for Steel as saying, adding that the SEC declined to comment.

    Wachovia shareholders approved the bank's takeover by rival Wells Fargo & Co in late December, bringing one of the largest mergers stemming from the financial crisis near to completion.

    Well Fargo could not be immediately reached for comment.

    The SEC wants to ascertain whether Steel misled investors when he told CNBC's "Mad Money" program on Monday, September 15, that the company had a great future "as an independent company," as panic about the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers roiled markets, the paper reported.

    (Reporting by Christopher Kaufman and Michael Erman; Editing by Gary Hill)