Wells Fargo Advisors
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Wells Fargo Advisors is a brokerage, investing, and financial advisory company. It is a subsidiary of Wells Fargo, and is headquartered in St Louis, Missouri.
The subsidiary was formerly known as Wachovia Securities until May 2009, when it legally changed names following Wells Fargo's acquisition of Wachovia Bank.<ref name="HBJ WS name change">Template:Cite news</ref>
History
Wells Fargo Advisors was previously the retail brokerage of Wachovia Securities, which was rebranded after the Wells Fargo purchase of the failing Wachovia Bank late December 2008.
Wachovia Securities' main predecessors were Prudential Securities and First Union Securities, both of which were large nationwide brokerages that had grown from mergers and acquisitions beginning as far back as 1897 and 1934, respectively.
From Leopold Cahn & Co. to Bache & Co. to Prudential Securities
The brokerage firm Leopold Cahn & Co. was founded in New York in 1879.<ref name="fhmagazine">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Cahn's nephew, Jules Semon Bache, began working there as a cashier in 1880.<ref name="fhmagazine"/> In 1892, when Bache became head of the company, the firm's name was changed to J.S. Bache & Co.<ref name="fhmagazine"/> By 1905, the firm was trading both stocks and commodities, and had seven offices, including in Montreal and Liverpool.<ref name="fhmagazine"/> Prior to October 1929, Jules Bache became conservative with the firm's credit and avoided investing the firm's own capital in the stock market; consequently, it weathered the stock market crash of 1929.<ref name="fhmagazine"/>
Upon the death of Jules S. Bache in 1944, he was succeeded by his nephew, Harold L. Bache, and the following year the firm's name was shortened to Bache & Co.<ref name="fhmagazine"/> Harold Bache brought in new partners and fresh capital,<ref name="Harold obit">Template:Cite news</ref> and in 1965 incorporated the firm<ref name="Harold obit"/> as Bache & Co, Inc.,<ref name="fhmagazine"/> which by his death had expanded to 124 offices worldwide and nearly 6,000 employees.<ref name="Harold obit"/>
After acquiring and merging with two firms – Halsey, Stuart & Co., Inc. and Shields Model Roland Inc. – in the 1970s,<ref name="fhmagazine"/> in the late 1970s the Bache firm experienced financial difficulties.<ref name="fhmagazine"/> The Bache Group, Inc. was acquired by Prudential Insurance Company of America in 1981.<ref name="fhmagazine"/> The following year, the Bache securities firm was renamed Prudential-Bache Securities,<ref name="fhmagazine"/> and in 1991 the Bache name was dropped when the firm became Prudential Securities, Inc.<ref name="fhmagazine"/> The firm acquired two boutique investment banks shortly before 2000, but the post-bubble stock-market meltdown made the brokerage less profitable.<ref name="shuts down">Template:Cite news</ref>
From J.C. Wheat & Co. to First Union Securities
One of Wachovia Securities' main predecessor companies was founded in 1934 in Richmond, Virginia as the investment firm of J.C. Wheat & Co.<ref name="RTD Wheat-Wach"/><ref name="VA Living">Template:Cite news</ref> Wheat fostered growth through mergers, including the 1971 merger with First Securities that created Wheat First Securities, Inc.<ref name="WaPo Hinden">Template:Cite news</ref> and its 1988 acquisition of Butcher & Singer, a successful Philadelphia-based securities firm;<ref name="WaPo Hinden"/> the firm then became known as Wheat First Butcher Singer.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1998, the privately held Wheat First Butcher Singer was acquired by the Charlotte, North Carolina–based First Union bank.<ref name="RTD Wheat-Wach">Template:Cite news</ref> The brokerage firm changed its name to Wheat First Union, reflecting its newly acquired status.<ref name="RTD Wheat-Wach"/> In 1999, First Union also acquired Chicago-based investment bank and brokerage Everen Capital Corporation,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> creating a coast-to-coast brokerage firm still headquartered in Richmond, which it renamed First Union Securities,<ref name="RTD Wheat-Wach"/> the sixth-largest brokerage firm in the country.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2000, First Union Securities acquired First Albany Cos. Inc., a regional brokerage and investment-banking business based in Albany, New York.<ref name="RTD Wheat-Wach"/>
First Union acquisition of Wachovia and name change
In 1999, Wachovia Corporation, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, had acquired the brokerage firm Interstate Johnson Lane,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and changed the name of the brokerage to IJL Wachovia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2001, First Union Corporation acquired Wachovia Corporation, and assumed the Wachovia name.<ref name="RTD Wheat-Wach"/>
In 2002, First Union Securities changed its name to Wachovia Securities as its business was merged with IJL Wachovia.<ref name="RTD Wheat-Wach"/> The combination created the fifth-largest brokerage firm in the country.<ref name="RTD Wheat-Wach"/>
In 2001, after de-mutualizing and instead going public, Prudential Insurance Company of America had become Prudential Financial Inc.<ref name="fhmagazine"/> In 2003 it sold its retail brokerage arm Prudential Securities to Wachovia Bank, retaining a 38 percent stake in the new joint venture Wachovia Securities.<ref name="shuts down"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="FT Pru closes"/> The new Wachovia Securities had client assets of $532.1 billion, making it the nation's third-largest full-service retail brokerage firm based on assets.<ref name=prudential>Template:Cite press release</ref>
In 2007, Wachovia acquired the financial services firm A. G. Edwards, based in St Louis, Missouri, and combined it with Wachovia Securities, which made it the second-largest brokerage firm after Merrill Lynch.<ref name="FT Pru closes">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The combined brokerage, operating as Wachovia Securities, moved its headquarters from Richmond to St. Louis.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Wachovia Bank fails and is purchased by Wells Fargo
After Wachovia Bank experienced heavy losses during the subprime mortgage crisis, it was purchased by Wells Fargo; the deal closed on December 31, 2008.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Wachovia Securities became Wells Fargo Advisors, effective May 1, 2009.<ref name="HBJ WS name change"/> Prudential sold its minority stake in the brokerage to Wells Fargo in December 2009.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In May 2022, Sol Gindi was appointed head of Wells Fargo Advisors.<ref name="Dive Gindi">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Gindi replaced the retiring Jim Hayes, who had headed the subdivision since July 2019.<ref name="Dive Gindi"/>