No job cuts are planned in Wachovia’s North Georgia banks, as the nation’s fourth-largest bank by assets plans to slash its work force in the wake of a massive second-quarter loss.

"We are the top-performing region (year to date) in our company and continue to service our customers as business as usual," said Brian R. Willman, president of Wachovia’s North Georgia region in Gainesville.

"Although we are facing a difficult economy, we are very well capitalized and are gaining market share as we speak," he added.

Wachovia Corp. reported an $8.86 billion second-quarter loss Tuesday, announcing it is eliminating 10,750 positions after losses tied to mortgages soared.

The news rocked Wall Street’s hopes that the nation’s big banks are weathering the credit crisis well.

"These bottom-line results are disappointing and unacceptable," Chairman Lanty Smith said in a statement. "While to some degree they reflect industry headwinds and weaker macroeconomic conditions, they also reflect performance for which we at Wachovia accept responsibility."

Wachovia said it lost the equivalent of $4.20 per share in the April-June period. In the same time frame last year, the bank earned $2.34 billion, or $1.22 per share.

Excluding $6.1 billion in write-downs to the value of its intangible assets and merger-related and restructuring charges of $128 million, Wachovia lost $2.67 billion, or $1.27 per share. Second quarter results include the bank’s October acquisition of A.G. Edwards Inc.

Analysts on average expected a loss of 78 cents per share on revenue of almost $8.4 billion.

Earlier this month, Wachovia had projected a $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion quarterly loss, equal to $1.23 to $1.33 per share, excluding goodwill items.

The bank expects to cut expenses during the second half of this year by $490 million and then reduce 2009 spending by $1.5 billion.