There has been a lot of talk on this blog about timing and names changes. Some folks think Wells Fargo should do name-change conversion faster — others favor a more gradual, deliberate approach.
No matter what your viewpoint, one major business group of our combined company has (as you know) already taken on its new moniker: Wachovia Securities officially became Wells Fargo Advisors on May 1.
Other recent blog posts have addressed the name change and goals of Wells Fargo Advisors, but I thought I'd share a little bit about the history of this group, based in St. Louis, and who are now representing Wells Fargo there — and around the nation — as Wells Fargo Advisors.
First of all, why St. Louis? Because in 1887, a prominent St. Louis businessman and banker named Albert Gallatin Edwards launched a new brokerage business there. The fact that Edwards embarked on creating a new firm at age 75 is remarkable in itself, but in reality, the founding of A.G. Edwards & Sons was merely a capstone in his outstanding career .
Born in Kentucky in 1812 and named with great foresight after a Secretary of the Treasury 
, Edwards grew up in Illinois, where his father Ninian served as governor and U.S. Senator. Young Albert G. Edwards graduated from West Point, and while stationed near St. Louis, met and married Louise Cabanne, daughter of a prominent St. Louis family. Soon afterward A.G. resigned his military commission to enter the wholesale business in St. Louis.
Edwards' business acumen and family connections in Missouri and Illinois helped him succeed. In Illinois, Edwards' brother, Ninian W., became brother-in-law to a young ambitious lawyer named Abraham Lincoln, and Ninian's home in Springfield hosted the wedding of Lincoln and Mary Todd (sister of Ninian Edwards' wife Elizabeth ) in 1842.
The family connection to Lincoln, in part, prompted A.G. Edwards to fight for the Union cause in Missouri. As a reward, President Lincoln named A.G. Edwards Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in April, 1865, just six days before his assassination.
Edwards parlayed his Treasury and banking experience into instant credibility for his new St. Louis stock, bond and investment brokerage business, which became the first St. Louis broker to handle transactions on the New York Stock Exchange. A.G. Edwards & Sons — the sons being Benjamin Franklin Edwards, George Lane Edwards, and Albert Ninian Edwards — earned its customers' trust through conservative management, avoiding market failures in the volatile 1890s.
A.G. died in 1892, but his descendants ran the firm for the next century.
The A.G. Edwards firm bought a seat on the NYSE in 1898, and although it also opened an office on Wall Street, the management of A.G. Edwards remained firmly rooted in St. Louis and characteristic Midwestern values. A focus on individual customers and managerial and philosophical distance from Wall Street helped A.G. Edwards emerge from the great stock market crash of 1929 with relatively few losses. And after World War II, the company brought a new determination to make brokerage services directly available to individual investors through a series of branch offices.
Now, as Wells Fargo Advisors, the customer-centric values cultivated over generations bring new opportunities to join together and fulfill Wells Fargo's own long-standing visions and values: Satisfy all of our customers' financial needs and help them succeed financially.
I love your history posts Marianne!
Whatever happens, PLEASE keep the design of the Wachovia banks. They are so beautiful, and so well designed. They are better thought out than the Wells Fargo branches, and more hip feeling as well. I also like the fact that there is no glass between me and the associates!
From a cost saving aspect I favor the gradual approach.
Changes to literature, signage, stationary could come slowly and eliminate the destruction of valuable printed information.
Forms, reports, marketing material etc.
Now that the retail brokerage has changed to Wells Fargo Advisors, can those customers take advantage of the 100 free brokerage trades that is available if they have an account balance of $25,000 or greater as is available through the Wells Fargo PMA package?
MY EMPLOYER BANKS WITH WACHOVIA AND I WOULD LIKE TO CASH MY CHECK. CAN I DO IT AS WELLS FARGO?
Why haven't I received any paper work on my account for some time.
@ Anonymous, in response to your post on June 10, as long as you are a Wells Fargo customer, cashing a check from any bank at a Wells Fargo store should not be a problem.
@ Nora Joan, in response to your post on 6/10, assuming your account is still open, I would call the phone number on your last statement and ask the representative if there's an issue.
can I now pay my mortrage streight in to the whacovia Bank?
What has become of Wells Fargo? I have spent six frustrating months trying to refinance my existing mortgage with your Forest Hills branch in New York. Total incompetence and indifference culminated in Wells Fargo advising me to take my business elsewhere! Save your time and money.. go elsewhere. In the meantime I will fight to recover the costs I incurred whilst having to suffer the worst level of customer service imaginable. What a sad reflection on a once great company
@ Anonymous, thanks for your comment question on June 9. At this time, legacy Wells Fargo brokerage customers won't be able to take advantage of the free trades until the back office systems integration, currently scheduled for late 2010. Sorry for any inconvenience! While the name change is one of the easier parts, the system and account integration will take some time.
who cares about th history?? this should be the section for FAQs for new customers . .move this to a another page!!
@Anonymous | June 12, 2009 6:44 PM. To answer your question, Plenty of people care about history. If you don't like it, don't read it. Simple as that.
Am I the only one that sees this as a sad story? Lincon named Edwards Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and now the whole company is just gobbled up! Quite a death of a company.
@Jonathan | July 13, 2009 12:27 AM. It is a sad story for all former A.G. Edwards employees who saw their beloved firm wiped out by unethical bankers. False promises of retaining the culture has the home office feeling foreign to those who remain and weren't laid off.
As an old A.G. Edwards client I hear Great news that Benjamin Edwards, great-great grandson of the founder of A.G. Edwards is soon to be opening offices. I hope to be a new client of theirs, seeing that Wells Fargo Advisors is charging all these nuacance fees for account minimums while at the same time receiving TARP, only to increase pay to the top executives. Shame on Wells Fargo Advisors.
I used to work for this company and traveled to St Louis many times for training and seminars. It truly is a tragic story I continue to follow. No one could imagine the tremendous corporate culture that existed in St Louis. Once you got into the main office building downtown you could just go to the top floor and walk around and look at Mr Edwards 20 million dollar china collection. If he was there he would shake your hand. Now its all gone.....
Ben Edwards was a good man. He embodied the ideals that most people don't think actually exist in corporate America. The company culture changed drastically when AGE was bought out, there were multiple layoffs (which AGE never had in all its history), and the stock lost over 90% of its value. Marianne, thank you for your respectful posting on the history of a wonderful organization.
Well let me tell you i had a 401k that i rolled over in to ag edwards when i left my job after 21 years i had it set up so i could recieve a monthly check and it did for about nine years then the market went down the drain and in two months i was all but broke if i had not closed the account when i did i would be broke now i my have to sell my house i can just barely get by now where is my bailout never again thanks for nothing ag edwards
just as i thought you dont post negitive comments against yourself well now that i am broke i can keep posting negitive comments thanks AG Edwards