Wells Fargo has opened another Abbot Downing office in Houston, TX, while recruiting Karl Farmer as a portfolio manager.

Farmer has 20 years of experience working in the financial services industry and was latterly a senior portfolio manager at BBVA Compass, working with HNW clients.

Before BBVA Compass, Farmer was a portfolio manager and equity analyst at Invesco Aim in Houston, having previously been an equity analyst for Greenlight Capital in New York. He began his career with William M Mercer as an analyst in Fort Worth.  

Abbot Downing, with $35 billion in client assets and a 40-year history working with ultra high net worth clients, is part of Wells Fargo’s wealth, brokerage and retirement group. Wells Fargo launched the Abbot Downing brand on April 2, 2012, in a move combining two of the firm's UHNW businesses. 

Last week, Wells recruited industry veteran Lester Law – latterly a managing director at US Trust – to serve as director of client management at Abbot Downing in Naples, FL.

Abbot Downing serves clients through offices in San Francisco, CA; Palo Alto, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Scottsdale, AZ; Denver, CO; Houston, TX; Minneapolis, MN; Chicago, IL; Philadelphia, PA; Washington, DC; New York; Charlotte, NC; Winston-Salem, NC; Raleigh, NC; Naples, FL; Jacksonville, FL; and Palm Beach, FL.