Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network

The wirehouse's latest initiative is effectively a way for the firm to circumvent the protocol without actually getting out of it.

Such a move would also coincide with efforts to cut costs in the bank's wealth management business by $600 million by 2020.

The new hires from Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan are welcome news for the embattled bank’s wealth management division.

One recruiter says, "If I'm an advisor at Wells Fargo right now, I have to ask myself is this the firm I want to tie my future to?"

A disaffiliation fee of $4,500 applies to advisors leaving the IBD, but the policy could change.

The bank is removing hurdles to employee advisors switching channels among other recent initiatives.

The planner wasn’t happy with the direction his former firm was pushing its advisors.

The seven new hires joined both the independent and employee channels.

Morgan Stanley alone lost 11 teams managing about $7 billion after its abrupt exit from the protocol pact, according to recent hiring announcements.

The brokers joined Wells Fargo's independent broker-dealer.