published on in Glamorous Persona

Wells Fargo just poached a Merrill MD to help manage clients across its CIB as the bank looks to lev

2021-05-20T13:30:00Z
  • Wells Fargo has recruited a new managing director to handle client relationships across its CIB.
  • Bell most recently was a market executive for venture services at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. 
  • Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf recently said the bank is looking to cross-sell products across the bank. 

Wells Fargo just hired a managing director from Merrill to navigate client relationships across its corporate and investment bank, Insider has learned. 

John Bell joined Wells Fargo's global institutional client group this week as a managing director, reporting to Judith Barry, head of traditional and alternative asset managers.

Bell spent nearly 15 years at Bank of America, including roles on the Americas prime brokerage leadership team. Most recently, Bell was a market executive for venture services at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. His focus was on addressing the brokerage and custody needs of private-equity and venture-capital investors.

John Bell is a new managing director in the global institutional clients group at Wells Fargo. Courtesy of Wells Fargo

At Wells Fargo, Bell will serve as a senior relationship manager, working with product partners across the CIB and broader bank. 

A spokesperson for Wells Fargo confirmed the news of Bell's arrival at the firm.

Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf recently said the bank can do a better job linking its wealth and consumer units for growth. 

"It's what we see with what so many of the other wealth managers have done so well, which is just doing a great job on the wealth management side and things like deposits and loans come along with it," Scharf said on Wednesday, according to a transcript on investment research platform Sentieo, without naming rivals. 

Bell first joined Bank of America in 2006, according to his LinkedIn page.

In one of his earlier roles, he was an MD in prime brokerage sales and relationship management. He went on to became head of account management for prime brokerage.

Bell was also a member of Bank of America's LGBT+ Executive Leadership Council, and an enterprise co-chair for its intergenerational employee network, according to his LinkedIn. 

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