Wachovia Wealth Management has recently recruited Bank of America veteran Danielle Lares-Bouharoun, along with two other senior bankers, for its newly formed entertainment group based in Nashville, Tennessee.

In her new role as senior vice president, senior client manager, Ms Lares-Bouharoun leads the Nashville entertainment banking office and assumes nationwide responsibilities for sports and entertainment banking. She reports to Holly Bell, regional director of private banking for Wachovia Wealth Management.

Ms Lares-Bouharoun was formerly a senior vice president at BoA, where she spent 22 years specialising in wealth management for sports and entertainment clients. She is joined in Wachovia’s Nashville entertainment group by Bradley Gallimore and Linda Payne, who were previously vice president and assistant vice president respectively at BoA.

The Nashville entertainment team currently has ten members who work in partnership with Wachovia’s Los Angeles and New York office. The division’s clients include musicians, professional football, golf and tennis players and racing drivers.

A number of wealth management firms have developed sports and entertainment divisions to deal with the specialist needs of these clients. Long-term financial planning is one area which can be particularly challenging due to the relatively short period in which sports professionals enjoy their highest earnings, for example.

Given the massive earning power of sports and entertainment stars this client segment is obviously one that firms are keen to attract, and moreover, retain. “In most cases we grow with the client from their first record deal or first pro sports contract to super-stardom,” said Ms Lares-Bouharoun.

As might be expected, the privacy of sports and entertainment clients is jealously guarded, and as such Ms Lares-Bouharoun was unable to provide details of the Nashville entertainment group’s assets under management.

Wells Fargo bought Wachovia in an all-stock acquisition completed on 31 December 2008. In its first quarter results for this year, Wells Fargo said its wealth management division’s net income had more than doubled to $259 million in the first quarter of this year from $93 million a year before.

As at 31 March 2009 Wells Fargo’s brokerage businesses have over $900 billion in client assets and nearly 16,000 full-service financial advisors, along with 6,000 licensed financial specialists. Overall, Wells Fargo & Company has $1.3 trillion in assets.