$1.5B team quits Wells Fargo for First Republic

First Republic landed a mega team from Wells Fargo, the latest big hires for the bank.

The Wells Fargo group was responsible for approximately $1.5 billion in private client and institutional assets, according to a person familiar with their practice.

They also represent fresh losses for Wells Fargo, which has suffered from advisor attrition in recent years. The company reported that its brokerage ranks shrank to 13,968 for the fourth quarter from 14,544 for the same period a year ago — a 4% decline.

Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

First Republic’s new hires — advisors George Fuchs, David Schulman, Gregory Carafello and Chad Cohen — joined the bank in New York last week.Fuchs and Schulman are industry veterans, with 21 and 22 years of experience, respectively. They had been registered with Wells Fargo since 2008, according to FINRA BrokerCheck records. They both have past work experience at Smith Barney and Dean Witter.

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• Raymond James Financial
• Focus Financial Partners
• UBS Wealth Management
• Career moves
• Dynasty Financial Partners
• Merrill Lynch
• Recruiting
• Wells Fargo Advisors

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Carafello started his career at Wells Fargo in 2012, per BrokerCheck. Cohen began his at Credit Suisse in 2014. Wells Fargo entered into an exclusive recruiting arrangement with Credit Suisse in 2016 when the Swiss bank decided to shutter its U.S. wealth management unit.

A spokeswoman for Wells Fargo declined to comment on the departures.

Many of the brokers leaving Wells Fargo in recent years have opted for regional BDs and independent firms.

First Republic, meanwhile, has been actively pursuing large wirehouse teams, picking up 11 last year and several so far this year, including another group from Wells Fargo in January. Peter Morimoto, Jon Jewitt, and Roy Elliott Jr. joined First Republic’s San Diego office.