Wells Fargo is beginning to see increased traffic to its independent channels. Over the past month, managers at Wells have hired over a half-dozen new people into the channel.  That said, all of them have transitioned from Wells' core private client group, PCG. 

Wells recently also recruited three external practices into its custody channel for registered investment advisory firms (RIAs). According to Advisorhub, revival comes as Wells Fargo Chief Executive Charlie Scharf told investors and analysts on the company's second quarter earnings call in July that FiNet, which was "completely underutilized" by the bank.

Simultaneously, Wells has been bolstering its senior management team that oversees the independent businesses. In July, Wells hired industry veteran John Tyers to head its Independent Advisor group and oversee FiNet, Wells' First Clearing business for broker-dealer clearing, as well as its RIA custody business. 

Since 2019, Wells has been on an aggressive hiring campaign, offering enhanced transition deals for advisors in its full-service brokerage channel. According to recruiters, deals from Wells have been some of the strongest in the industry for independent advisors for years. 

Financial Advisor Transitions consults advisors nationwide to explore employment transition options and to preserve and protect their practice in any transition that they make.