Possible future scenario

A couple of months ago, I was the writer that said Abbott Downing would be the next to be sold. Well I was kind of right and kind of wrong, but right about it going away. Next domino to fall is the elimination of the "A" in WFA. People there will simply be saying they are "financial advisors at Wells Fargo." That way, those clients will belong more and more to the bank, with these advisors essentially looking like they work for Wells as oppose to being independent. The bank also wants clients to identify with Wells Fargo managing their money as oppose to the advisors. Then after this happens, Wells Fargo Private Bank would simply all merge with Wells Fargo, wealth management division.
WFC will ultimately abandon the "Line of Business" framework and everything will be dumbed down and simply be separated by different divisions of the bank or different departments.

I apologize for copying someone's post – @1fxv+1asYMUkh , but I'm interested in what you think about this scenario and what problems could arise from the realization of such a scenario?

Comment! It's anonymous!

6 replies (most recent on top)

The bank isn't a broker dealer and can't be. The name of WFA could certainly change but if they want to offer securities through a broker–dealer then WFA will exist in some form.

Banks can offer securities through an exemption but it is much more limited in scope than what WFA (or other broker–dealers) offer.

Yes, but the bank will be kept separate from brokerage. Yes, they will have Private bank functionalities within WFA, but will not be merged into the community bank. They've already been segregating the small clients to solutions. WFA has just not invested much here. Same as Wells Trade and Intuitive Investor. There are gains to be had there. Tough to invest in all these segments at the same time though

To the post below me about private bank not being able to merge.... not true, look at Citi. They have a brokerage, IPB, advisors, and Citi Private Bank. It all merged into Citi Global Wealth Management recently. The term Private Bank can be two thinks ––– One as we all think of it as a brand name for a business line, and another one for a literal and regulatory private bank utilized by only a specific clientele. You can eliminate the private bank brand name, and just have a private bank presence and available within WFA.

Also, WIM recently promoted a head of digital. The bottom tier of clients will be having a Charles Schwab/Fisher Investments over the phone type of experience and will be serviced by salaried employees, if advisors don't like this they will soon start abiding by it once the profitability of the smaller client diminishes down to nothing.

The Abbott downing thing is not a big deal. How many other firms have a separate name for their UHNW clients? Private bank is private bank. Bank and brokerage would never merge due to regulatory issues.

The private bank was just never ran well.

They are selling off their white labeled businesses. Not hard to figure out.

Wells Fargo has been planning the break down of the company as noted above. The integration of the bank advisors with the private client group advisors has proven to be an interesting evolution. The private client advisors need to take heed because they are downsizing them as much as possible. Don’t blame the lower numbers on retirements of advisors, the advisors are leaving in droves.

Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

Possible future scenario

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