A group of eight internationally focused financial advisers left Wells Fargo for independent channel RIA in part because the communications firm halted its wealth management activities outside of the United States earlier this year.

“We needed to find a new home for our clients,” says Marlen Lopez, senior wealth advisor at Excelsis Global Private Wealth, choosing Sanctuary Wealth.

The team, which focuses on customers in Mexico, generates $ 5.5 million in revenue per year, Sanctuary wrote in a statement. Sanctuary does not disclose the assets under management of the team.

Andrew Tasnady, Managing Partner at Tasnady and Associates, explains that the reason for the move could be “all about your existing customer relationships.”

“Most advisors believe that when they move, they can bring most of their clients with them,” he says. “Better to find a place to find these customers than to try to start all over again” in a brand new national company, he says.

A Wells Fargo spokesperson declined to comment on the eight departures, but said more than 60% of advisors who focused primarily on international clients have already left the company, “which is in line with our expectations. “.

Tasnady says that number could be higher.

“Unless you’ve been doing it for a year, if you’re very junior and don’t have a lot of established client relationships … you might want to stay with the existing firm and move to the United States.” based on a team or a company. But, I think most people internationally have more than a few years of experience and have these relationships with clients, ”he says.

In January, Wells Fargo said it exists in the international market in an effort to simplify its operations because it is a segment that “requires different processes, approaches and infrastructure maintenance,” said in April an Wells Fargo spokesperson according to a previous Financial Planning report.

Lopez, one of the group’s managing partners, worked at Wells Fargo for five years and before that she worked for the Merrill Lynch brokerage for eight years, according to BrokerCheck.

Sanctuary provided the advisers with technology, operations and logistics support for the move, which Lopez says was helpful.

“It can be a little scary to go from a regular brokerage firm or a bank brokerage house to being independent, but Sanctuary makes it so much easier because they make that transition,” says Lopez.

“What Sanctuary Global has to offer will allow us to better serve our customers, regardless of where they live. As owners of our business, we are empowered to make all of our own decisions and grow our business unhindered, ”Lopez said in a press release.

Excelsis Global Private Wealth is Sanctuary’s first multi-city team, hailing from offices in McAllen, Laredo and San Antonio in Texas.

The McAllen team is made up of six advisers: Marlen Lopez, Roberto Lopez, Erasmo Salinas, Florentino Chapa, Lorena Guerrero and Javier Ordorica.

The offices in Laredo and San Antonio are headed respectively by Carlos de la Garza and Rene Perez.

The team is also joined by Itcel Zuniga, formerly Senior Wealth Management Partner at Wells Fargo, and Angelica Avila and Claudia Sandoval, Wealth Management Partners at Wells Fargo.

Sanctuary Wealth includes 53 companies in 20 states with more than $ 16 billion in assets under advice, according to the press release.

Jim Dickson, CEO and Founder of Sanctuary Wealth, said in the statement that national and international client advisors “continue to look to Sanctuary Wealth because our model of independence in partnership gives them something that no one else does. can”.

“This is an extremely exciting time for Sanctuary as we continue to improve our platform offerings, recruit the best talent in the industry and expand our presence into new markets, and we couldn’t be happier than Excelsis Global Private Wealth has chosen to join us on this journey, ”Dickson said in the statement.