Wachovia Securities' name was changed to "Wells Fargo Advisors" last Friday. Wells Fargo has wrung the "Wachovia" name out of its private-client business, in a first-strike toward eliminating the brand altogether.

Late last week Wachovia Securities became Wells Fargo Advisors. Wells Fargo says the name change came at the suggestion of its advisors and clients alike.

Giddyup

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo acquired Wachovia at the end of 2008. Wachovia -- itself the result of a 2001 union of Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Wachovia Corporation and Charlotte, N.C.-based First Union -- had been buckling under the weight of impending loan defaults and large losses in mortgage-market holdings.

Wachovia acquired its brokerage division from Jersey City, N.J.-based Prudential in 2003 -- or the bulk of it; Prudential held on to 38% of Wachovia Securities until Wells Fargo bought it out. In 2007 Wachovia acquired St. Louis-based A.G. Edwards. "Adopting the Wells Faro brand is a unifying step and one that leverages one of the most widely recognized and respected brands in the world," says Wells Fargo Advisors' head Danny Ludeman.

Wells Fargo Advisors has 15,688 advisors with $962 billion in client assets (across 8.2 million accounts) in 1,100 branches in the U.S. -FWR

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