Abbot Downing, a boutique arm of Wells Fargo based in Minneapolis that serves the super rich, is being rebranded and moved into another unit.
Abbot Downing, Wells Fargo's boutique business for the super rich, is being rebranded
Abbot Downing is folded into firm's Private Bank.
March 15, 2021 at 9:38PM
The business will continue to be part of Wells Fargo's wealth and investment management division as it becomes part of the Wells Fargo Private Bank.
Abbot Downing serves individuals, families, foundations and endowments with net worth of more than $50 million. It has offices in several cities, but its largest is in Minneapolis where it started a decade ago, said Julie Andrews, a company spokeswoman.
She said that Abbot Downing's "relationship managers" will now be called "family office advisors." They will otherwise serve the same clients and provide the same offerings as before, she said.
"The name may change but our commitment to the business, our clients, and our advisors serving these clients is steadfast," Barry Sommers, CEO of Wells Fargo's wealth and investment division, said in a statement.
"This business is an important part of [the wealth and investment division] with significant potential for growth, and we will continue to serve the specialized needs of our ultra-high-net-worth clients in the manner they have come to expect."
The Abbot Downing name was introduced a decade ago when two wealth-management businesses merged: Lowry Hill in Minneapolis and Wells Fargo Family Wealth in San Francisco. The business today manages more than $47 billion in client assets.
When it first launched in 2011, about 90 of Abbot Downing's 300 employees were based in Minneapolis.
The name came from American industrial history: the Abbot Downing Co., based in New Hampshire, was a leading maker of stagecoaches in the 19th century. Wells Fargo for many years has used the image of the stagecoach in its marketing, recalling the bank's start in the 1850s as provider of express and banking services through the frontier West.
Jim Steiner, a Twin Cities-based executive, led Abbot Downing as president for many years until last year when he moved on to a different role at the bank. Jack Ginter, of Philadelphia, succeeded him.
Last month, Wells Fargo sold its asset-management business to two private-equity firms for $2.1 billion.
Kavita Kumar • 612-673-4113 Twitter: @kavitakumar
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