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Wells Fargo Securities plans to build a "best in class" fixed-income platform for depository institutions and recently hired Charlie Crowley as part of that effort.
Crowley recently joined Wells Fargo Securities, the trade name for certain capital markets and investment banking services of Wells Fargo & Co., as a managing director and head of bank strategy, filling the role left vacant by Michael Buttner, who departed earlier this summer to join the management team of Atlantic Capital Advisors LLC. Crowley comes to Wells Fargo after serving as managing director of balance sheet strategies at KBW LLC, a unit of Stifel Financial Corp., and brings more than 30 years of experience to the role.
Sean Ladley, managing director, head of generalist fixed income sales at Wells Fargo Securities, who is also responsible for depository sales coverage, said Crowley was the first person he thought of when looking for a new head of bank strategy. He said the firm is "really excited" about having him as part of the platform, which includes a fixed income sales force of 30 people. Sean said Crowley will work directly with that sales team and plans to grow it to 42 individuals.
SNL spoke with Crowley about his new role at Wells Fargo, strategies for bankers to manage their investment portfolios through the challenging interest rate environment, asset/liability considerations and banks' deposit businesses and how they could change when rates rise.
What follows is an edited transcript of the conversation.
SNL Financial: What will your role at Wells Fargo be like?
Charlie Crowley: As head of bank strategy, I will be working with our depository clients. That role has a couple of aspects to it. First is working with the clients, and that involves working across the U.S. with our sales force and working with our client base and talking about what is going on the market side, sectorwise, the themes we're seeing across the country and seeing a lot of other clients work through. I will work with them on specific issues on their balance sheet, helping them quantify it as well as bring solutions and ideas that might make sense for them specifically. The other aspect of what we're doing is working with the sales force. I coordinate...