Wells Fargo announced plans to expand its Private Bank into Chicago, the third-biggest US market for high net worth individuals, with a team of former LaSalle Bank managers. Wells Fargo Private Bank, which serves clients with $1 million or more in investable assets, has brought up its Chicago headcount to 25 with about 10 recent additions from LaSalle, Chicago's second bank. The Dutch-owned bank is in the process of being acquired by Bank of America. "The latest research shows that there are 175,000 high-net-worth households in the area," Chip Flannagan, senior vice president and regional manager of the Wells Fargo Private Bank, told the Chicago Tribune. "That number is expected to grow by almost 50 per cent over the next five years, so there's a huge opportunity." Mr Flannagan joined Wells Fargo Private Bank at the end of March as senior vice president and regional manager. He was formerly group senior vice president and head of wealth management for Illinois for LaSalle. He was followed by Scott Landau who was a senior vice president and division head for LaSalle's wealth management group. Over the past three months, they have been joined by eight others from LaSalle. Of those, three joined as recently as two weeks ago. Gabrielle Griffin, former senior vice president and division head of wealth management at LaSalle, is now senior vice president and private client adviser at Wells Fargo Private Bank. Three former first vice presidents at LaSalle private banking are now senior private bankers at Wells Fargo private bank. They are Richard Jankowski, Thomas Bassett and Amy Turk. Wells Fargo has also recruited bankers from other firms for its Chicago private bank. Michael Katz, a former portfolio manager at Northern Trust has been appointed senior investment manager at Wells Fargo, and Colleen McCaffery, former senior financial consultant for Merrill Lynch's high net worth group, is now senior vice president and private client adviser at Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo previously tried to build a business catering to affluent Chicagoans. In 2002, when Wells Fargo brought its wealth-management business to Chicago, it serviced clients with more than $100,000 in investable assets. The new drive will focus on clients with more than $1 million in investable assets. Wells Fargo's private bank has 7,000 staff nationally and 225 investment managers overseeing $250 billion. It currently derives 16 per cent of its net income from private banking, as well as investments, brokerage and insurance. Its goal is to boost that share to 25 per cent. The market leader in Chicago is Northern Trust, which does business with one in three millionaire households in the Chicago area. Other competitors include UBS AG which is to open a Chicago office serving people with more than $10 million in investable assets, or those with a total net worth of $25 million, later this month. Credit Suisse Private Banking USA has an office in Chicago and plans to add a Northbrook office in December.