Wells Fargo says its brokerage operations, in-bank and other advisors now total 14,961 as of December 31, 2009.
This represents a decline of 182 advisors since September 30, 2009, when there were 15,143 FAs.
About 11,000 of these advisors are in the Wells private-client group as of the fourth quarter, down from about 11,200 in the third quarter.
Roughly 2,800 financial advisors operate in banks. (And Wells also has more than 6,000 licensed financial specialists in the banks, as well.)
Despite the decline of its advisor force, the company says it was experiencing "solid financial advisor recruiting during the [fourth] quarter as brokers who have joined the firm are over two times more productive than those who have left the firm."
Still, the new FA total puts it behind Morgan Stanley Smith Barney with 18,135 and slightly under Merrill Lynch with 15,006 – giving it the number three slot, ahead of UBS with some 7,300.
Wells Fargo Advisors has some $1.1 trillion in assets under management.
The wealth, brokerage and retail unit had net income of $131 million in the fourth quarter vs. $244 million in the third. Revenue was $2.9 billion, down slightly from the previous quarter "as higher asset-based revenues were offset by lower securities gains in the brokerage business."
The retail brokerage business reported that its managed account assets grew $11 billion, or 6 percent, including net inflows of $8 billion.
Wells Fargo Advisors recently expanded its deferred-compensation plans and offered FAs in its private-client group a bonus of up to 2 percent of total yearly sales (or production) if they hit certain targets for net new client assets.
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