Wells Fargo Advisors nabs $1.2B ultra-high-net-worth team from Citi

Wells Fargo Advisors has added a three-person team overseeing $1.2 billion in assets to its private client group in Dallas, extending a recruiting push that has accelerated over the past year.

Financial advisors Paul Cooke and Jake Trousdale joined the firm on December 22 from Citigroup, according to a statement from WFA. They are joined by client associate Debbie Cornwell as part of the move.

Cooke and Trousdale previously held director positions at Citi, according to their LinkedIn profiles. The two were with Citi Private Bank for nearly 13 years, having joined from JPMorgan in 2013.

Collectively, they had reported $3.4 million in trailing revenue over the past 12 months.

Chris Gerrish, mid-America market leader at Wells Fargo Advisors, said the firm is positioning the new hires to tap into its broader private wealth platform. In the statement, Gerrish said the firm is “proud to welcome Paul and Jake to Wells Fargo Advisors” and that with the firm’s resources and specialist support, they will be able to bring clients a “coordinated, high touch experience.”

The Dallas addition comes on the heels of several significant hires into the firm’s private client group and independent network.

In early December, Wells Fargo Advisors announced its largest recruitment of 2025 by assets by adding Hingham Street Partners, a $6.3 billion team from UBS. The multigenerational group, founded in 2012 by advisors Peter Landry, Lawrence DePaulis and Timothy Fortune, joined the private client group on December 2. The team is headquartered in Boston and has offices in Connecticut, Florida and Tennessee, with 16 advisors and 16 support staff generating $38.5 million in annual revenue and an average advisor tenure of more than 26 years.

Following that, WFA also brought in a group of advisors collectively overseeing nearly $1.5 billion across its employee and independent channels. That wave included New York City advisor Gary Weisner and Texas-based advisor Kyle Mays, who each brought over more than $380 million in assets to the private client group.

The firm has been leaning on a combination of a steady compensation grid and targeted incentives to compete for large ensembles and experienced producers. Its 2026 pay plan keeps in place a $13,500 monthly production hurdle and a 50% payout above that level, marking the fifth straight year those thresholds have not changed.

It has also introduced recurring trail payouts on checking balances, higher credits for annuity business, and richer payouts for multigenerational relationships tied to households with at least $5 million in assets.