Wachovia, the forth-largest bank in the US, will establish its first investment advisory presence on the West Coast of the country later thi...

Wachovia, the forth-largest bank in the US, will establish its first investment advisory presence on the West Coast of the country later this year in an effort to leverage from the client list of its most recent acquisition, mortgage lending specialist, Golden West Financial. President of Wachovia Wealth Management, Stanhope Kelly, told WealthBriefing that 2006 was a year of transition and investment for the wealth management operation of the North Carolina-based institution; but this year and next would be all about growth. Currently Wachovia’s Trust and Investment Advisory Services team includes around 150 investment professionals as well as 528 trust advisors and associates who are based mainly on the east coast in 17 states from Connecticut to Florida, and west to Texas. The acquisition of Golden West half-way through last year helped Wachovia to an overall fourth-quarter profit increase of 35 per cent over the same period in 2005. Aside from the group’s plans to establish a new investment advisory presence on the West Coast, Mr Kelly said growing the wealth management group will be centered around leveraging existing client relationships into asset categories not previously available to Wachovia clients thanks to a new investment platform the group finished building last year. The creation of the new investment platform in early 2006 and the task of transitioning the firm’s existing client assets onto it kept revenue growth flat in 2006, admitted Mr Kelly. However, he said the firm had already transitioned around $17 billion of the total $70 billion worth of client assets. That amount again will be shifted to the new platform, Mr Kelly said, and new revenue will be generated by leveraging existing client relationships into asset categories not previously available to Wachovia clients, including alternative strategies like hedge funds, commodities, real estate and private equity. “The bank acquired 3,500 new client relationships during the year. We intend to do more with the clients we already have with capabilities of our new platform,” he said. Mr Kelly said he planned to stick with the firm’s existing advice model in 2007/08 – that is: separate teams including around four to eight relationship managers, an investment advisor and a trust advisor – to service the bank’s wealthiest individuals and families. Wachovia completed two major acquisitions in 2006 including Golden West Financial and Westcorp. Golden West is the parent company of World Savings Bank, which has 11 branches in Greater Sacramento and more than 8 per cent of all local deposits.