I remember searching out this mysterious London Wachovia when I was first moving over here for grad school, and never got anywhere.
Wachovia did tell me that they had a 'special relationship' with Barclay's (or maybe RBS?), and that supposedly I could get wire transfers faster or something, but frankly it didn't seem to amount to much. It certainly didn't help me get a Barclay's account when I came over--I think they denied me straight away. In the end, I just went with the bank where I had the easiest time getting an account. That happened to be NatWest since there was a branch on campus.