Wachovia Securities announced the opening of its newest European Equity sales office in Geneva, but the US bank denied it is planning a wealth management push into Europe. “Wachovia has focused its wealth management efforts in the United States,” said a spokesman for the group Josh Dunn, who pointed to the recent announcement of 20 new hires across Northern and Southern California as evidence of the concentrated focus the firm has on the West Coast of the US in wealth management. The equity sales office opened by the north Carolina-based bank in Geneva this week was the result of an acquisition of an office of US securities network, A.G. Edwards. Now branded under the Wachovia name, the Geneva securities branch is run by Christopher Lobo, the current and former managing director, and offers a full-suite of primary and secondary equity products such as ETFs, convertibles and equity structured products, primarily for international institutional investors. Meanwhile Wachovia said in a statement recently California is a top priority for Wachovia Wealth Management expansion, having discovered the region has more than three times the number of millionaires than any other state in the US, according to data collected by the firm’s own Insight and Innovation group. “By 2010, households in the Los Angeles metro market – which includes Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties – with $250,000 or more in investable assets are projected to have grown 28 per cent since 2005,” the firm stated. The 20 new hires in Northern and Southern California announced by Wachovia were predominantly private client and private banking relationship managers promoted internally and poached from rivals including Wells Fargo and US Trust Bank of America. The bulk of the new relationship managers appointed by Wachovia particularly in Southern California were formerly with Wells Fargo. As a result of the appointments Wachovia established new wealth management teams in San Diego, Orange County, metro Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area. Also as part of the wealth management build-out in the state, Wachovia established a Legal Specialty Group in San Francisco and Los Angeles to serve the financial needs of law firms and attorneys. “We’re building a team of people with character and expertise who know their markets and can deliver a unique California approach for Wachovia clients,” “said Winston Wilkinson, Wachovia western region Private Banking director.