Wells Fargo is planning to increase its $444 billion asset management business twofold over the next seven years as its operations extend into international markets, tapping those affected by the European sovereign debt crisis, Family Wealth Report can confirm.  

As part of the move, it is understood that Wells Fargo will add foreign stock and bond strategies to its US-based mutual fund unit, as well as opening six additional Luxembourg-based funds for offshore clients.

Additionally, the San Francisco-based bank is looking to purchase a business so as to offer clients greater access to select hedge funds.

While at present the firm has eight investment team members focused on non-US markets, the extension into international markets is one of the bank’s “key growth areas,” asset management chief, Mike Niedermeyer told Bloomberg in an interview. Accordingly, it expects to add five more Europe-based salespeople.

Wells - which manages just $2 billon in offshore funds - is in a position to “challenge” firms such as BlackRock and PIMCO, and could emerge within the top 20 in the next five years, Niedermeyer said.

“The issue is whether mutual funds are something that will be just another product or whether asset management is a core business that you are committed to building to stand on its own two feet. Wells Fargo is making a big commitment,” Loren Fox, a senior analyst at New York-based Strategic Insight, told Bloomberg.