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Wachovia Securities Rebrands Following Wells Fargo Merger

US brokerage Wachovia Securities has officially rebranded under its new parent and will now be known as Wells Fargo Advisors.
Wells Fargo & Company completed its merger with Wachovia Corporation on 31 December 2008. The process of rebranding Wachovia as Wells Fargo Advisors, which was put in motion at the start of this month, is expected to be completed by early 2010.
“Adopting the Wells Fargo brand is a unifying step... We chose ‘Advisors’ because the term illustrates the role we play in guiding customers and helping them meet their financial goals,” said Danny Ludeman, Wachovia’s president and chief executive.
Last month, Wells Fargo Wealth Management named six regional managing directors to lead its US east coast operations following the merger with Wachovia.
The regional leaders will report to Stan Gregor, head of the eastern markets for Wells Fargo Wealth Management. In this newly-created role, one senior leader will have direct responsibility for all wealth management disciplines in each region, including private banking, credit, bank brokerage, trust, investment management, planning and insurance services.
John Dowd will be regional managing director for the northeast, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, based in New York City. He previously served as wealth management director for Wachovia Wealth Management in the region.
John Duchala will be regional managing director for the Delaware and Pennsylvania region, based in Philadelphia. Previously, he served as senior regional manager for Wells Fargo Wealth Management in New York. He rejoined Wells Fargo in 2008 from JP Morgan Private Client Services.
Gregory Bronstein will be regional managing director for the mid-Atlantic region, including Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, based in Washington. He was senior regional manager for Wells Fargo Wealth Management in the state of Washington.
Jeff Hartman will be regional managing director for the Carolinas. He was previously private banking director for Wachovia Wealth Management in the southeast.
Kim Radford will be regional managing director for the southeast, including Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee, based in Atlanta. He was regional president for the Carolinas and Virginia region of Wachovia’s bank brokerage channel.
Bill D’Antignac will be regional managing director for Florida, based in Jacksonville. He was formerly regional president of Wachovia’s bank brokerage channel.
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.