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AdvisorCensus / Financial advisors / North Carolina / Charlotte / Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc.

Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc.

Charlotte, NCSEC-registered investment adviserCRD 133204

Filed as WELLS FARGO INVESTMENT INSTITUTE, INC.

Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment advisory firm in Charlotte, NC, registered since 2005, reporting over $5 billion in regulatory assets under management in its Form ADV filing dated March 23, 2026.

21 years
registered since 2005
$42,995,068,741
assets under management
2 arrangements
Percentage of assets, Fixed fees
12
disclosure items (Item 11)

Quick answers

From the filing

How is Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc. compensated?

On its Form ADV (Item 5.E, October 2026), Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc. reports these compensation arrangements: a percentage of assets under its management; fixed fees (other than subscription fees).

Where is Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc. located?

Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc.'s principal office is in Charlotte, NC, according to its Form ADV; the April 2026 filing also lists 2 other offices (Schedule D, Section 1.F).

Is Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc. registered with the SEC or a state?

Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc. is an SEC-registered investment advisory firm, registered since 2005. Status as filed: Approved. CRD 133204.

How much does Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc. manage?

Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc. reports $42,995,068,741 in regulatory assets under management in its Form ADV filing dated March 23, 2026 (100% discretionary).

How have Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc.'s assets and staff changed since 2021?

In the Form ADV data for Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc.: Regulatory assets under management: $5,906,913,746 in the October 2021 data and $42,995,068,741 in the October 2026 data, up 628%. Total employees: 143 in October 2021 and 225 in October 2026. Assets under management move with markets as well as with clients coming and going.

What types of clients does Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc. serve?

By number of clients on Form ADV Item 5.D: high net worth individuals (11,004); other (748); individuals (other than high net worth individuals) (177).

Which custodians does Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc. use?

Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc.'s most recent Form ADV filing (Schedule D, Section 5.K(3)) lists Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (affiliated with the firm) as a custodian holding 10% or more of its separately managed account assets.

Does Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc. report any disciplinary disclosures?

Reports 12 disclosure items on Form ADV Item 11: yes answers to 9 questions about regulatory matters and 3 questions about civil court matters (11.C(1), 11.C(2), 11.C(4), 11.C(5), 11.D(1), 11.D(2), 11.D(3), 11.D(4), 11.E(2), 11.H(1)(b), 11.H(1)(c), 11.H(2)). Each question covers the firm and its advisory affiliates, and one event can produce several yes answers. The detail of any item is on the firm's SEC record: https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/133204

What changed in Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc.'s recent Form ADV filings?

In the April 2026 filing data: Employees performing advisory functions went from 151 to 143. No longer lists an office in Denver, CO. No longer lists an office in Jacksonville, FL.

From the Form ADV filing

Every figure below is as the firm filed it with regulators, as of October 2026.

How the firm is compensated

Item 5.E
  • A percentage of assets under your management
  • Fixed fees (other than subscription fees)

Item 5.E lists how the firm is compensated for its advice; Items 5.B, 6.A, and 7.A show whether its people or related companies can also earn commissions. Percentage of assets, fixed, hourly, subscription, and performance-based fees come from clients (a performance-based fee depends on investment results); commissions come with a sale or a trade, often from the company behind the product. How fees, commissions, and other arrangements differ

Fees and minimums

Form ADV Part 2A

See the firm's brochure (dated March 23, 2026) for its fees and any account minimum, on the SEC's IAPD site.

Regulatory assets under management

Item 5.F
$42,995,068,741

$42,995,068,741 as of October 2026, filing dated March 23, 2026.

Discretionary: $42,995,068,741.Non-discretionary: $0.

A measure of scale, not skill or returns. Discretionary means the firm decides trades; non-discretionary means clients approve each one. What assets under management means

Who the firm serves

Item 5.D
Individuals (other than high net worth individuals)
Clients 177 Assets $104,574,611 (0%)
High net worth individuals
Clients 11,004 Assets $34,695,681,732 (81%)
Banking or thrift institutions
Clients 1 Assets $0 (0%)
Pension and profit sharing plans (but not the plan participants or government pension plans)
Clients 11 Assets $37,859,091 (0%)
Charitable organizations
Clients 114 Assets $369,498,380 (1%)
State or municipal government entities (including government pension plans)
Clients 32 Assets $357,138,054 (1%)
Other investment advisers
Clients 2 Assets $0 (0%)
Corporations or other businesses not listed above
Clients 127 Assets $2,665,737,999 (6%)
Other
Clients 748 Assets $4,764,578,874 (11%)

A firm with no individual clients is an institutional manager even if it manages billions; the mix tells you whom the practice is built around.

Advisory services

Item 5.G
  • Portfolio management for individuals and/or small businesses
  • Portfolio management for businesses (other than small businesses) or institutional clients
  • Selection of other advisers (including private fund managers)
  • Publication of periodicals or newsletters

Registration and firm details

Items 1, 2, 5
Also doing business as
EQUITY OPTIMIZATION, FIXED INCOME STRATEGIES TEAM, GLOBAL ASSET ALLOCATION, GLOBAL INVESTMENT STRATEGY, GLOBAL MANAGER RESEARCH, GLOBAL PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT, GLOBAL SECURITIES RESEARCH, OPTION STRATEGIES GROUP
Registration
SEC-registered investment adviser. Status as filed: Approved.
Registered since
2005 (21 years)
Employees
Total: 225. Performing investment advisory functions: 143.
Wrap fee program participation
Yes.
Custodians (Schedule D, Section 5.K(3))

Custodians holding 10% or more of the firm's separately managed account assets, as filed on Form ADV (Schedule D, Section 5.K(3)). A custodian holds client assets; it does not endorse or supervise the firm. AdvisorCensus has no relationship with any custodian.

Other offices (Schedule D, Section 1.F)
2 other offices, as of the April 2026 filing
Minneapolis, MNSaint Louis, MO
States registered or notice-filed
53 states or jurisdictions
AKALARAZCACOCTDCDEFLGAHIIAIDILINKSKYLAMAMDMEMIMNMOMSMTNCNDNENHNJNMNVNYOHOKORPAPRRISCSDTNTXUTVAVIVTWAWIWVWY

SEC-registered investment advisers are examined by the SEC. SEC, state, and exempt registration

Disclosures

Item 11

12 Reports 12 disclosure items on Form ADV Item 11. View on IAPD.

Questions answered yes on this filing

Regulatory matters Items 11.C to 11.G

  • 11.C(1) Has the SEC or the CFTC ever found that the firm or an advisory affiliate made a false statement or omission?
  • 11.C(2) Has the SEC or the CFTC ever found that the firm or an advisory affiliate was involved in a violation of SEC or CFTC regulations or statutes?
  • 11.C(4) Has the SEC or the CFTC ever entered an order against the firm or an advisory affiliate in connection with investment-related activity?
  • 11.C(5) Has the SEC or the CFTC ever imposed a civil money penalty on the firm or an advisory affiliate, or ordered the firm or an advisory affiliate to cease and desist from an activity?
  • 11.D(1) Has another federal regulator, a state regulator, or a foreign financial regulator ever found that the firm or an advisory affiliate made a false statement or omission, or was dishonest, unfair, or unethical?
  • 11.D(2) Has another federal regulator, a state regulator, or a foreign financial regulator ever found that the firm or an advisory affiliate was involved in a violation of investment-related regulations or statutes?
  • 11.D(3) Has another federal regulator, a state regulator, or a foreign financial regulator ever found that the firm or an advisory affiliate was a cause of an investment-related business having its authorization to do business denied, suspended, revoked, or restricted?
  • 11.D(4) In the past ten years, has another federal regulator, a state regulator, or a foreign financial regulator entered an order against the firm or an advisory affiliate in connection with investment-related activity?
  • 11.E(2) Has a self-regulatory organization or a commodities exchange ever found that the firm or an advisory affiliate was involved in a violation of its rules, other than a minor rule violation under a plan the SEC approved?

Civil court matters Item 11.H

  • 11.H(1)(b) Has a domestic or foreign court ever found that the firm or an advisory affiliate was involved in a violation of investment-related statutes or regulations?
  • 11.H(1)(c) Has a domestic or foreign court ever dismissed, under a settlement agreement, an investment-related civil action brought against the firm or an advisory affiliate by a state or foreign financial regulator?
  • 11.H(2) Is the firm or an advisory affiliate now the subject of a civil proceeding that could result in a yes answer to any part of 11.H(1)?

Each question covers the firm and its advisory affiliates: its current employees other than clerical staff, its officers, partners, and directors, and anyone who controls the firm or is controlled by it. One event can produce yes answers to several questions. SEC-registered advisers and exempt reporting advisers may leave out events more than ten years old, and may answer 11.A(2) and 11.B(2) for pending charges only. What happened, and who was involved, is on the Disclosure Reporting Pages of the IAPD record. Reading a firm's disclosures

Assets and staff over time

Items 5.A, 5.F
$5.91B 2021 $51.2B 2022 $38.1B 2023 $44B 2024 $40.8B 2025 $43B 2026
Data periodAssets under managementEmployeesFiling dated
October 2026$42,995,068,741225March 23, 2026
October 2025$40,817,738,378233July 1, 2025
October 2024$43,998,251,201251April 29, 2024
October 2023$38,123,578,794264October 2, 2023
October 2022$51,248,339,997212June 16, 2022
October 2021$5,906,913,746143September 29, 2021

Regulatory assets under management: $5,906,913,746 in the October 2021 data and $42,995,068,741 in the October 2026 data, up 628%.

Total employees: 143 in October 2021 and 225 in October 2026.

As filed in each year's data for the same month. Assets under management move with markets as well as with clients coming and going; they measure scale, not skill or returns. Most firms update these figures once a year.

Changes in the filing

Last 12 months
  1. April 2026
    • Employees performing advisory functions went from 151 to 143.
    • No longer lists an office in Denver, CO.
    • No longer lists an office in Jacksonville, FL.
  2. December 2025
    • Updated its list of owners and control persons (Schedule A).

Compared month to month from the SEC's monthly adviser data and the state compilation feed. Owners and control persons are summarized, never named.

Websites listed on Form ADV

Item 1.I

Not reported.

Source: Form ADV, as of October 2026. Values appear as filed; a value the firm did not report is shown as "Not reported."

Cite this page

AdvisorCensus. Wells Fargo Investment Institute, Inc. (CRD 133204): Form ADV filing data as of October 2026.
https://advisorcensus.com/firm/wells-fargo-investment-institute-inc-charlotte-nc-133204