Wachovia to Double Private Bank in Three Years

Chris Owen

8 June 2007

Wachovia, the fifth-largest US wealth manager according to Barron's 2006 ranking, announced plans to add 300 private bankers to its roster of 240 by hiring in the "high-growth" markets of Florida, Texas, California and New York. Morrison Creech, who was promoted to managing executive of private banking, said Wachovia would start its expansion in California by expanding its team covering Los Angeles, San Diego, and Orange County and by adding a team in Northern California to cover the Oakland and San Francisco region. Wachovia, which reported $706.4 billion of assets at 31 March, is clearly working to develop its wealth management business from both ends of the market. It recently announced a $6.8 billion deal for the A.G. Edwards brokerage, expected to close in the third quarter, which would give Wachovia Securities more than 3,300 brokerage offices nationally, more than $1.1 trillion of client assets, and nearly 15,000 financial advisors. Edwards is oriented toward mass-market investors. Mr Creech, who joined Wachovia in 2003 from Bank of America, is to report to Stanhope Kelly, president of Wachovia's wealth management division. Wachovia's private banking unit previously reported to the retail bank. Bringing private banking into wealth management, said Mr Kelly, would make it easier for Wachovia to move clients "through each stage of their financial life cycle and positions us to grow with clients over time." The private bankers will work with the 1,300 financial advisors in Wachovia Securities' investment services group to serve affluent people – those with $250,000 to $5 million of investable assets. With the private banking group in place for affluent clients, the company's threshold for new wealth management clients will move up in January from $2 million to $5 million or more. "We found that customers with $2 million in assets were dealing with a lot of the same issues as customers with $5 million in assets," said Mr Creech. "Both are dealing with issues around asset accumulation. This enables our wealth markets group to focus on wealthier customers."