Wells Fargo nets $972M JPMorgan team

Wells Fargo Advisors is continuing to build on its summer recruiting momentum with the addition of a trio of former JPMorgan Chase & Co. private bankers who previously managed nearly $1 billion in assets. After bringing in an $830 million duo from Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in September, the firm last month brought on the Reed, Gates, Strait Wealth Management Group, who managed a combined $972 million for ultra-wealthy clients. The group includes Mike Reed, Zach Gates and Eli Strait. Mr. Reed and Mr. Strait had been with JPMorgan since 2010, according to registration records with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. Mr. Gates had been with the firm since 2008. They will now report to John Gardner, who manages Wells Fargo Advisors' Lexington, Ky., branches. Wells Fargo Advisors, the second-largest firm by head-count, had 15,163 advisers at the end of the third quarter, including both employee brokers and independent contractors. That was down around 1% from 15,285 in the year-ago quarter. (More adviser moves: See all of Wells Fargo's 2014 additions) A JPMorgan spokesman, Darin Oduyoye, declined to comment on the moves. The private banking business is separate from J.P. Morgan Securities, the wealth management and brokerage arm of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.