SKN | Wells Fargo $840 Million Team Joins &Partners: What the Move Signals for US Wealth Management

Key Points

• Bellevue-based Crown Legacy Wealth, managing approximately $838 million, has moved from Wells Fargo Advisors to &Partners.
• The transition brings Thomas J. Faley, Jason A. Eckerman and three support professionals to &Partners, marking its 123rd practice since its 2023 founding.
• &Partners has now recruited at least seven Wells Fargo teams in 2026, representing approximately $6.6 billion in combined assets, highlighting the intensifying competition for high-value advisory relationships.

Why an $838 Million Team Matters

&Partners has expanded its presence in the US wealth-management market by recruiting Crown Legacy Wealth, a Bellevue, Washington-based advisory team overseeing approximately $838 million in client assets.

The group is led by Thomas J. Faley and Jason A. Eckerman, who joined Wells Fargo Advisors in 2016. They are moving alongside Jennifer E. Gonzales, Ali R. Boop-Nilsen and Sean C. Price.

For wealth-management platforms, transactions of this scale are strategically important because they bring not only experienced advisors but also established client relationships and recurring revenue potential. The movement of an almost $840 million practice therefore represents a meaningful transfer of wealth-management capacity rather than simply a personnel change.

&Partners Is Building Scale Through Advisor Recruitment

The Crown Legacy transaction is the 123rd practice to join &Partners since the firm’s founding in 2023. Collectively, the advisors recruited by the platform previously managed approximately $60 billion in assets.

The latest move also forms part of a broader pattern. Crown Legacy is at least the seventh Wells Fargo team to join &Partners during 2026. Including the newest recruit, those seven teams represented approximately $6.6 billion in combined assets.

That pace provides a useful indication of how independent wealth-management platforms are competing for established advisor practices. The strategy is increasingly centered on attracting teams with significant books of business rather than relying exclusively on organic client acquisition.

For high-net-worth clients, that competition can have practical consequences. Advisors now have more platform choices, while firms are competing to offer the infrastructure, economics and ownership structures capable of retaining experienced teams.

Wells Fargo Is Simultaneously Recruiting From Rivals

The movement should not be interpreted as a one-directional migration away from Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo, which has approximately 12,000 advisors, has also been actively recruiting from competing wealth-management firms. Its recent hires include a Morgan Stanley team managing approximately $6 billion, a J.P. Morgan team managing $3.1 billion and two UBS Wealth Management USA teams representing approximately $3.3 billion in combined client assets.

The result is a highly competitive market in which large institutions and independent platforms are simultaneously attempting to strengthen their advisor networks.

This makes advisor mobility an increasingly important strategic indicator for the wealth-management industry. The firms capable of attracting and retaining the most productive teams can potentially strengthen their distribution, deepen client relationships and expand assets under management without relying entirely on new client acquisition.

The Strategic Shift Toward Advisor Ownership and M&A

&Partners’ recruitment strategy also extends beyond individual team acquisitions. In May, the firm hired Shawn M. McGinn, a former Wells Fargo executive involved in expanding the firm’s independent broker-dealer business, to lead a minority-investment M&A initiative.

That development suggests &Partners is seeking a more systematic approach to expansion. Rather than simply recruiting individual advisors, the platform appears positioned to use minority investments and acquisitions as additional mechanisms for scaling its wealth-management franchise.

For established advisory teams, this creates a broader range of potential strategic partners and ownership structures. For platforms, it creates an opportunity to aggregate high-value practices while maintaining advisor alignment.

What This Means for High-Net-Worth Clients

The movement of Crown Legacy Wealth highlights an increasingly competitive US wealth-management landscape in which advisor talent, client relationships and platform economics are becoming closely intertwined.

For affluent families, the important consideration is not simply which institution employs a particular advisor. It is whether the underlying platform provides continuity, appropriate investment architecture, robust risk controls, succession planning and the cross-border capabilities required as wealth becomes increasingly complex.

As independent firms continue recruiting from major banks while those banks aggressively recruit from their competitors, high-net-worth clients may ultimately benefit from greater choice. The strategic challenge is determining whether a change in platform genuinely improves the quality and resilience of the advisory relationship.

Closing Insights

The Crown Legacy move is a useful indicator of where US wealth management is heading: toward increasingly aggressive competition for established advisory franchises. An $838 million practice can materially strengthen an emerging platform, while the simultaneous recruitment activity at Wells Fargo demonstrates that talent is moving in multiple directions.

For global wealth holders, the deeper implication is that the institution behind an advisor is becoming an increasingly important part of the due-diligence process. Platform stability, ownership, technology, investment access and succession capabilities deserve the same scrutiny as the advisor relationship itself.

For a confidential discussion regarding retail banking strategy, insurance distribution models, customer loyalty ecosystems, digital financial services, or cross-border financial innovation opportunities, contact our senior advisory team.