From the FOIA request for George Hartzman's NC State filing: "FAs Get New Name, But No Traditional Retention Plan"

"After completing its merger with Wlles Fgrao,
Wachovia outlined its retention and branding efforts to advisors on February 20:

Retention bonuses are not being offered...


..."We looked at the issue of paying retention bonuses
and concluded that it wasn't appropriate," said ...spokesperson Anthony Mattera.

..."The traditional retention bonus isn't the way for us to go in this environment," Mattera says.

"But we did want to do something for advisors and also help clients."

Thus, the firm is refocusing on its "4front" best-practices program,
which was rolled at a few years ago.

4front aims to encourage advisors to expand their fee-based business
by rewarding them for high customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The Wachovia side of Wells now includes about 14,300 advisors.

This represents 11,900 advisors who have been employees of Wachovia and A.G. Edwards,
about 1,600 Wachovia bank-based Series 7 advisors, some 650 independent advisors,
160 Latin America-focused advisors, and related Series 7 staff.

(In addition, Wells Fargo has more than 1,000 Series 7 advisors of its own.)

For 4front, advisors must complete financial plans using the company's Envision software
for at least 25 households with $250,000 in assets under management and up
in order to earn up to 50 percent of their trailing-12-months sales/commissions/fees or production.

FAs also can earn between 25 to 75 basis points on assets held by such clients.

According to the firm, the basis points earned are applied retroactively
after an advisor crosses each threshold of 25, 50 and 100 households.

All FAs are eligible to participate...

..."Our thinking is that this is a tough time for advisors and clients,
and therefore we want a program to address both clients' and advisors' concerns," Mattera shares.

"This program means that both sides should be satisfied,
and that's the best way to encourage people to stay, as opposed to traditional retention plans.

This makes our company a compelling place for advisors to stay and run their business."

Janet Levaux