Wells Fargo Private Bank plans to have 150 advisors in Chicago by 2012, more than triple the number it has now.

Wells Fargo Private Bank plans to have 150 advisors in Chicago by 2012, more than triple the number it has now.

There are 35 advisors in the market now; the bank will have 50 by the end of the year and 80 by the end of 2011, Chip Flannagan, senior vice president and regional director of the Wells Fargo Private Bank unit told Family Wealth Report in an exclusive interview.

“Chicago is a huge market,” Flannagan said. “There are over 24,000 households with investable assets of $5 million or more. And the Gold Coast between the Miracle Mile downtown and Lake Forest is one of the top wealth corridors in the world.”

The aggressive growth strategy has also been fueled by Wells’ success in the market since entering it in 2007, he added.

Net income after taxes for the private bank in Chicago was $1.5 million at the end of  2007, Flannagan said, a number that grew to $3.5 million in 2008 and then exploded to $20 million on $50 million of revenue last year.

“We’ve been in a high growth mode and this is a top priority for Wells Fargo,” he said.

The banks’ target market in Chicago is middle-market business owners with companies generating revenues between $50 million and $500 million, according to Flannagan.

Wells clients also include families with multi-generational wealth, executives at publicly-traded companies and doctors and lawyers.

But while the wealth management market may be rich in prospects, it is not without some serious challenges for a new entrant, Flannagan cautioned.

“It’s a highly competitive and highly fragmented market,” he said. “And we only have eight Wells Fargo bank branches here, so we don’t have the visibility and brand awareness we have in markets like Charlotte or San Francisco. People don’t know we’re here, so we have to get our good name out there.”

So far, Flannagan has been succeeding, local wealth managers say.

“It’s not easy to come into a market like this,” said one executive at a rival firm. “But Wells has been doing a good job and they’ve earned people’s respect. They’re one of the biggest banks in the country, they have good people who know what they’re doing and they’re clearly serious about this market.”