Wachovia's Chief Risk Officer to Retire

Wachovia (WB Quote) is on the hunt for a new chief risk officer, saying Thursday that Don Truslow will retire from the company once a replacement is found.

Truslow joined Wachovia in 1980 and became chief risk officer about eight years ago. He also served as treasurer and comptroller. Steel thanked the retiring officer for his "many years of dedicated and tireless service."

A Wachovia spokeswoman declined to comment further on Truslow's decision to leave the fourth-biggest U.S. bank.

The news comes within weeks of the beleaguered bank's report of an $8.9 billion second-quarter loss due to bad bets on the housing market. Those included its offering of risky "Pick-A-Pay" loans in which customers could make monthly payments below the interest rate.

That loss followed a $393 million loss in the first quarter and billions of dollars worth of capital raises and dividend cuts to shore up capital.

Truslow is not the only change taking place in Wachovia's upper ranks. The bank said last week that CFO Tom Wurtz would depart, and it named Robert Steel as a permanent replacement for former CEO Ken Thompson, who stepped down earlier this month.