Wells Fargo is streamlining its businesses catering to ultra high net worth families, and launching a dedicated business for clients with over $50 million, Bloomberg reports.

As part of the strategy, the firm is aggregating Wells Fargo Family Wealth and Lowry Hill, a financial planning and investment management subsidiary.

The new business unit will begin operating as Abbot Downing from April and will have combined assets from the aggregated businesses of around $27.5 billion, with around 575 client-families.

This asset figure would make it the fourth-largest family office after HSBC’s private wealth solutions business, Bessemer Trust Co, and UBS’s wealth management business, according to Bloomberg data.

The rebranded business will be led by James Steiner, an executive vice president at Wells Fargo, and will offer in-house and third-party investments in stocks, bonds, hedge funds and real estate.

Abbot Downing will “generally” take on clients with a minimum of $50 million, but will have some legacy clients with fewer assets, as Lowry Hill worked with individuals, foundations and endowments with $10 million-plus assets, the report says. Going forwards, clients with between $5 million and $50 million will be referred to Wells Fargo Private Bank.

Some of the advisory unit’s new customers will be small-business customers of the bank who work with Wells Fargo to sell their holdings, Steiner reportedly said, as the firm looks to capitalize on its links with the business-owning community.

Although no specific fees for the service were reported, they will be “competitive with what folks in the industry are offering,” Steiner is quoted as saying.

According to the Family Wealth Alliance’s Multifamily Office Study 2011, average minimum annual fee level in the industry is $81,200, for those offices quoting fee minimums and based on a sample of 72 firms.