(Dow Jones) Wells Fargo & Co. is offering many of its brokers a reward for bringing in more assets from new and existing clients.

The award, rolled out earlier this month, is one of three components in Wells Fargo Advisors' deferred compensation plan. The payout varies depending on advisors' experience level and assets brought to the firm.

Brokers who attract a minimum of $500,000 in net new assets and have two to five years of service are eligible to receive 2% of their annual production. At the high end, advisers who bring in $3 million in assets and have at least 16 years of experience will also receive the 2% payout.

The award is payable over a five-year period, and advisers will have the option to receive it in various investment choices including mutual funds. It won't be tied to the performance of Wells Fargo's stock.

The award replaces Wells Fargo's previous growth award, under which advisers had to boost their revenue by 15% year-over-year.

"When you look at a financial adviser's cycle, they are usually up one year and down the next year...We want to have awards that the financial advisers can attain year after year," said Erik Karanik, managing director of Branch Incentives and Cost Management in an interview.

"We want to continue to have components of our compensation plan that aren't strictly production-based," he said.

During the financial crisis and recession, many financial advisers saw their annual production levels plunge with the market.

Roughly 12,000 advisors in Wells Fargo's private client group or traditional brokerage are eligible to receive the asset award. New recruits in 2010 won't be able to receive the payout, however, as they will already be receiving recruiting packages to join the brokerage.

Andy Tasnady, founder of Tasnady & Associates, a compensation consulting firm for the brokerage industry, said some firms have implemented an asset-gathering bonus, with an emphasis on the size of the accounts brought to the firm. Wells Fargo doesn't make that distinction.

"I do like the fact that it might be a steadier award year-to-year as revenue growth might be more of a variable," Tasnady said.

While adding the asset award, Wells Fargo kept the cash component of its broker compensation plan unchanged. The brokerage will continue to give advisers a cash payout of 24% of the first $10,000 they produce each month, and 50% of all production beyond that point.

Tasnady said the Wells Fargo plan is simpler to communicate to the brokerage force than those offered by the other major firms.

"It's hard to communicate a 12-tiered grid and [brokers] don't know what they are going to get until the end of the year," he said.

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