How does this brand transition differ from other post-financial crisis acquisitions?

This move marks the first total brand deletion resulting from the 2008 financial crisis following Wells Fargo's $15.1 billion acquisition of Wachovia. Other major institutions, such as Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, have chosen to retain the Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney brand names for their respective acquisitions.

What happened to Wachovia’s independent broker-dealer unit, FiNet?

The independent broker-dealer formerly known as FiNet has been renamed Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network. While it serves 405 practices with $32 billion in assets, reports indicate that only 30% of those firms are currently choosing to adopt the Wells Fargo name.

How does the newly formed Wells Fargo Advisors rank within the brokerage industry?

With 15,600 full-service brokers and 5,900 licensed financial specialists, the firm manages a combined $1 trillion in assets under administration. This scale establishes Wells Fargo Advisors as the third-largest full-service broker in the United States.

What major rebranding has occurred for Wachovia Securities?

Wachovia Securities has officially transitioned to the brand name Wells Fargo Advisors as of September 14. The firm will remain headquartered in St. Louis under the leadership of President and CEO Danny Ludeman.

RIP Wachovia Securities brand name

Wells Fargo Advisors leaps to number three spot day one

2 min read

By Brooke Southall September 19, 2009Updated: July 14, 2020

No vestige of the old brand name here

Wells Fargo eliminates Wachovia Securities brand, renaming it Wells Fargo Advisors.
Rebranding includes extensive advertising in major publications and video campaigns.
Wells Fargo Advisors now manages $1 trillion in assets with over 15,600 brokers.
FiNet, Wachovia's independent broker-dealer, is now Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network.

AI generated

I opened my weekly issue of the New Yorker with hopes of colorful, literary articles on a Saturday afternoon and I was smacked in the face with something else. Wachovia Securities is now Wells Fargo Advisors — published in a two-page advertisement. A quick web search reveals that this change occurred September 14 so I debated delivering it to you as news. What tipped the balance was knowing that other people might live under the same rock as me and the fact that Google showed no news stories about it. Maybe it’s not newsworthy per se. I find it interesting.

In what may be the least apologetic, least sentimental brand name change in history, Wachovia Securities has been deleted in favor of Wells Fargo Advisors. It’ll remain based in St. Louis under its president and CEO Danny Ludeman

The advertisement in this week’s The New Yorker mentions the word “Wachovia” just once and in the smallest font [besides the disclaimers at the bottom].

Wells Fargo is getting the word out with big ads in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the St. Louis Dispatch. It also has video ads.

Wells Fargo advisors start with 15,600 full-service brokers in 50 states and 5,900 licensed financial specialists with a combined $1 trillion of assets under administration. It is the third-largest full-service broker.

Also assuming the new Wells Fargo brand name is the old Wachovia independent broker-dealer, FiNet, which serves 405 practices with 705 advisors with $32 billion of assets under management. It’s now calls Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network. Only 30% of those firms are choosing to use the Wells Fargo name, according to data in a Sept. 18 Wall Street Journal article entitled: “Street Moves:Wells Fargo’s FiNet attractine to some brokers.’

Wells Fargo of San Francisco announced the $15.1 billion all-stock transaction to buy Wachovia of Charlotte, N.C. on Oct. 3, 2008 and closed the deal on Jan. 1. It’s the first brand deletion to result from last year’s financial crisis. Bank of America is keeping the Merrill Lynch brand name for now and Morgan Stanley is keeping Smith Barney as a suffix.

As of Dec. 31, according to Wells Fargo data
As of Dec. 31, according to
Wells Fargo data