Families with $50 million or more in assets are among the fastest growing wealth segments today-a trend that is expected to only intensify the demand for family office services.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, the new parent of Wachovia Securities, is well aware of this rising demand, and is determined to show that a large bank can provide the deft personal touch that affluent clients want from their advisors.

The bank's Family Wealth Group is, in essence, a multifamily office serving ultra-wealthy families. The group, part of Wells Fargo Private Bank, is focused on managing wealth across generations.

Since launching in March 2008, the unit has grown to about $8.5 billion under management. Now, in the wake of a financial crisis that toppled Lehman Brothers and left other Wall Street giants on the verge of bankruptcy, Wells Fargo-one of the large banks that has fared relatively well through the turmoil-is hoping to see its family office make further inroads.

"We are set up to best serve a multi-generational family who takes an active role in managing their wealth," says Michael Cole, executive vice president and national director of the Family Wealth Group.  

The combination of Wells Fargo and Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia adds 15 states and about 3,400 branches to Wells Fargo's footprint, which mostly is west of the Mississippi. The deal also includes Wachovia's brokerage unit, with $1.1 trillion in client assets, 14,600 financial advisers and 1,500 offices nationwide.

Wells Fargo, which has been active in the high-net-worth market since 1852, has positioned the Family Wealth Group to serve families with at least $50 million in net worth from offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Minneapolis.

Cole says the group is planning on joining forces with Wachovia's high-end multifamily office complex, known as Calibre, but details about the merger have not been disclosed.  A spokesman at Wachovia declined to comment on the integration of the two groups.

Industry experts say Wells Fargo, like all advisors to the ultra-wealthy, has to go beyond a turnkey model that offers clients
little more than quarterly updates.

Just as affluent clients would expect from a boutique office, the Family Wealth Group consists of a multi-layered operation that includes wealth managers, attorneys, CPAs and other consultants-backed by the banking expertise of Wells Fargo.

"Handling an ultra-high-net-worth family really becomes a business in and of itself," says Lisa Gray, a longtime industry analyst and author of The New Family Office: Innovative Strategies for Consulting to the Affluent.

For ultra-affluent families challenged by financial and family issues ranging from the strictly monetary to the deeply personal, multi-family offices should set out to meet their investment, estate planning and, in some cases, lifestyle needs, Gray says. Without a multifaceted approach, a wealthy family may receive incomplete or even contradictory advice from separate advisors who may or may not be operating with the full knowledge of the family's situation and goals, she says.

"You listen and then listen some more," explains Tracy Tuens-Way, a family wealth manager at Wells Fargo. "You are bringing together all disciplines for a seamless experience for the client."

Advisors at the Family Wealth Group go beyond balancing the portfolio and attempt to synchronize all aspects of a family's wealth, over multiple generations, she says.

"We ask what is the legacy and vision that the family wants to articulate. We help them lay that vision out for generations to come," Tuens-Way says.

Advisors often have to act as a translator-taking a family's vision of the future and mapping out a financial strategy to achieve the stated goals, she says.

"Some families just want to be able to articulate a family vision as opposed to dealing with investment strategy," Tuens-Way says. "Finance is a language. The family may be conversant in what brought them their wealth, but I am conversant in financial matters."

Gray, who also runs the wealth management consulting firm Graymatters Strategies, points out in her book that advisors to families such as those handled by MFOs, must "operate with the paradoxical mind-set that monetary reward is a natural by-product of doing the right thing for the client." In other words, by placing the focus on a holistic approach to providing clients with the service they demand, the advisor's business grows. More importantly, advisors feel as if they are making a positive contribution.

It also leads to referrals-and business growth. "The vast majority of clients are either referred by others or they come through centers of influence-attorneys, estate planners and also at various forums where they congregate," Tuens-Way says. "You use your own pool of contacts and here at Wells, we have a strong base within the banking world."

While market turmoil has been disastrous for other large banks, Wells Fargo got through the end of 2008 relatively unscathed. Overall, the market turmoil has worked to the Family Wealth Group's advantage, Cole says.

"With the unraveling of our peers and financial markets in general, we are lucky to be in a very stable position and enjoy a flight to quality," he says. Cole adds that the turmoil has also led to quick turnarounds on accounts. After first contact with a potential client, it used to be typical in the industry for it to take from six months to a year before a prospect became a client.
Now clients are moving assets in roughly a month, he says.

In volatile times such as these, advisors must also be armchair shrinks and have the ability to see opportunity when most see doom, Tuens-Way says. "In this downtime communication is as important as performance," she says. "But that also means, do not ever go to a meeting without a clear idea. They pay you to come with meaningful customized ideas. You must honor that trust, which takes discipline, calm, resolve, strategy and execution and a lot of forward thinking."

Forward thinking includes working toward a horizon spanning multiple generations, Cole says.

"Our clients are concerned like everybody, but they are insulated to an extent and also opportunistic to a degree," he says.  "So our guidance allows for much longer time horizons, in some cases up to 100 years. They are investing for a very long time."