Wells Fargo Wins Over $450M Merrill PBIG Advisor in Texas

There’s little doubt that Wells Fargo can dance the two-step with the top firms on the Street.

When Felix Erbring, a Merrill Private Wealth advisor in Austin, Texas, began considering a move, Wells Fargo was not on his list. Erbring, who manages around $450 million and generates $3.8 million in annual revenue, was interested in name-brand cache, including firms like Morgan Stanley and Rockefeller.

In Erbring's view, Wells Fargo was still weighed down by perceptions tied to its decade-old fake-account scandal. He wanted to find a place where his clients would be comfortable and where he could eventually finish out his career.

But as the search progressed, Erbring agreed to take a closer look. What he found reflected just how much Wells has changed and how quickly perceptions have followed.

Of the roughly 25 teams producing at least $10 million that have changed firms over the past two years, more than 60% have selected one of Wells Fargo’s channels, according to an analysis by The Gershman Group.

The list includes:

• Hingham Street Partners (Boston, MA), a $38.5M / $6.3B team that departed UBS for Wells Fargo Advisors in December 2025.
• Months later, the Weikes Slattery Group (New York City, NY), with $17M in production and $3.1B in AUM, made the move from J.P. Morgan Advisors to Wells Fargo Advisors in February 2026.
• In May 2026, The Taylor Group, a $19M / $6B New York City powerhouse, left Morgan Stanley for Wells Fargo Advisors.

That continued earlier this month when Wells landed the $1.7B Sheresky Samsen Group from RBC Wealth Management in Connecticut.

“Two years ago, we often had to convince advisors just to take a meeting with Wells. Now they see where the biggest teams are going, look under the hood and understand why.” — Roger Gershman, CEO of The Gershman Group

Wells has the resources of a major bank, but its leadership is listening to advisors and showing real flexibility.

That proved to be a major selling point for Erbring. Wells was willing to negotiate the contract’s duration, treatment of deferred compensation, asset-transfer hurdles and how restricted stock, cash and other less-portable assets would count toward those targets.

That approach showed Erbring that Wells was invested in the relationship, while other firms seemed to simply want to push through the standard recruiting package.

Wells has also been building the choices available to advisors through its employee and independent businesses and its planned RIA custody channel. While its competitors avoid potential internal conflict, Wells is embracing the optionality in a sign of its confidence in its own platform.

The investments that Wells has been making have become hard to ignore.