More changes at Wells Fargo Advisors, this time to management

The 12,000 registered reps and financial advisers working at Wells Fargo Advisors on Thursday were told to brace for more change at the group, with the bank cutting the number of regions and managers from 12 to eight.

Such a move had been widely anticipated, as Wells Fargo Advisors and its parent bank, Wells Fargo & Co., execute the cost cutting and streamlining plan of its new CEO Charlie Scharf.

Just last month, the bank said it was selling its asset management business, with $600 billion in assets, to two private equity managers for $2.1 billion. It is also cutting its international wealth management business and in October said it laid off a "sizable group" of salaried advisers.

The bank and its assorted business lines, including wealth management, have been under intense pressure since revelations in 2016 that Wells Fargo bank employees had secretly created millions of unauthorized accounts in the names of customers without their consent. Wells Fargo Advisors has seen a net decrease of about 2,000 advisers since then, as many have jumped ship to competitors or retired.

Advisers for the most part will not feel a direct impact due to the change in management structure and will continue to report to the same local manager. The realignment will take at least several weeks.

"We are evolving into a flatter, more nimble organization that brings all our services to clients and makes it easier for them to do business with us and for advisers to support clients in doing so," wrote a company spokesperson in an email.