Why is Santander doing well and Wells Fargo not?

Both banks benefited from CS seniors fleeing UBS but I see Santander on a good amount these days when you didn’t 2 years ago but Wells Fargo feels very much of the same as it was. Is it just the case Santander got the better CS bankers?

28 Comments
 

Can tell you obviously work at WF from your posts but santander was a retail bank 2 years ago and now they’re a M&A advisors on Clearlake deals where WF was a crappy BB 2 years ago and is a crappy BB today

 

I made one post about WF in the past, not sure how you came to the conclusion I work there.

But to your point, I'm not saying Santander hasn't changed but WF has been consistently climbing up the league tables and have been the lead advisor on some of the larger deals this year. They definitely aren't the bank they used to be. That said it's yet to be determined if their performance from Q1 and Q2 can be sustained over the next few years. Regardless, they definitely aren't the same "crappy BB" they were 2 years ago.

 

Not disagreeing with that at all but WF has not seen a meaningful bump from the CS hires when Santander has

 

Their U.S. deal volume alone is larger than UBS and DB globally. Just need some time to leverage U.S. testimonials and expand globally

 

Somewhat agree that Santander has benefited from their CS hires more than Wells Fargo but you’re comparing a bank that was virtually non existent in IB pre CS blowup to a bank that has one of the most well established CB practices in the country.

It’s a lot easier to show growth when you’re starting from nothing compared to an already mature firm trying to grab market share from other behemoths.

I also don’t think you’re giving Wells enough credit. They’ve really been on fire this year and time will tell how sustainable that is but they have recruited some crazy talent all across the street. This was also mentioned before but to reiterate WF has been on a hiring spree so the impact of the CS seniors is dampened when you take into account everyone they’ve brought over.

 

Maybe in stuff like the sponsors space Santander has seen better momentum than WF, but overall, WF has been crushing and definitely is leagues above Santander in IB this year. 

 

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