Wells Fargo Advisors has been adding a number of prominent financial advisors to its wealth management units in recent weeks, AdvisorHub reports. Wells Fargo said the advisors it has brought in from UBS Wealth Management USA and Merrill Lynch together produced almost $5.2 million in annual revenue and managed $923 million in client assets
The most recent additions were the husband-and-wife duo of Jansen Bailey and Julie Axley Bailey, who joined Wells’ FiNet Independent Financial Network channel from UBS on June 24. The couple, who operate as Acunis Wealth Partners, produced nearly $2.3 million in annual revenue from more than $270 million in assets during their time at UBS. Two client associates joined them in the move.
Jansen’s BrokerCheck listing states that he started his career 18 years ago with Ameriprise Financial and worked at Merrill, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley before joining UBS in 2014.
Julie has 22 years of experience and first registered with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities before moving to Credit Suisse in 2003. She worked at UBS, Merrill, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley before rejoining UBS in 2014.
Also last month, New Jersey–based advisor Matthew Power joined FINet affiliate firm Seventy2 Capital. Power, who has 28 years of experience, arrived from UBS, where he produced more than $905,000 in trailing 12-month revenue from more than $292 million in assets. Power started at Smith Barney and moved to Prudential Securities and UBS and Stifel before joining UBS again in 2012
Wells Fargo’s wealth division has been focusing on FiNet, its independent broker-dealer, as a way to expand its recruiting pool and retain brokers who otherwise would have left for another firm.
“We have substantially improved advisor retention and have increased the focus on serving independent advisors and our Consumer Banking clients, which should ultimately help drive growth,” CEO Charlie Scharf said on the Wells Fargo earnings call recently.
In early June, Wells Fargo’s Private Client Group added John Heckler, who generated more than $2 million in trailing 12-month revenue from more than $360 million in client assets at his former firm, Merrill Lynch.
Heckler brings 40 years of experience, having first registered in 1984 at PaineWebber, according to his BrokerCheck record.
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