Wells Fargo adds AI chat tool for financial advisers
The bank says AI Teammate connects advisers and support staff to Advisor Gateway, but did not disclose costs, vendors or measured productivity gains.
By Dominic Okoye · Staff Writer
· 3 min read
Wells Fargo on Wednesday launched AI Teammate, an internal AI chat capability for financial advisers, support teams and client associates. The bank did not disclose development costs, vendor details or measured productivity gains, but tied the release to more than $1 billion it has spent on technology platform upgrades over the past several years.
The tool connects to Advisor Gateway, Wells Fargo’s core platform for financial advisers, and is meant to let employees ask questions in plain language rather than hunt through internal systems. According to Wells Fargo, AI Teammate can produce summaries about products, workflows and processes for users in its wealth and investment management business.
The launch is another sign that large banks are moving generative AI from broad internal experimentation into role-specific software for employees with high-value client relationships. In wealth management, the pitch is straightforward: reduce administrative drag on advisers and make client preparation faster. The harder part, which Wells Fargo has not quantified, is proving that the tools improve adviser output without introducing compliance, accuracy or supervision problems.
Evelyn Varner, chief product officer for wealth and investment management at Wells Fargo, told CIO Dive that early users have submitted thousands of prompts and held hundreds of conversations since AI Teammate became available. She said the intended outcome is to help advisers become more connected, useful and effective in delivering advice to clients.
Varner also said Wells Fargo’s wealth and investment management product team worked with enterprise technology and AI teams on the capability. The work focused on frequent employee pain points, including time spent searching for information across internal resources, according to her comments to CIO Dive.
Built on Advisor Gateway
AI Teammate follows Wells Fargo’s May launch of Advisor Gateway, a platform the bank has positioned as the foundation for adviser technology. CEO Charles Scharf told investors during Wells Fargo’s Q2 2026 earnings call Tuesday that the bank has invested more than $1 billion in its technology platform over the last several years, enabling products including Advisor Gateway and AI Teammate.
Scharf said during the call that those investments are improving productivity, client experience, adviser hiring and retention. Wells Fargo did not provide specific hiring, retention or productivity metrics connected to AI Teammate in the announcement.
The company also did not say which AI models power the chat feature, whether the tool uses external model providers, how responses are checked for accuracy or what controls apply to regulated adviser communications. Those details matter in banking, where internal AI tools still need auditability, data controls and a clear line between employee assistance and client-facing advice.
Banks are packaging AI for employees
Wells Fargo is not moving alone. Citigroup began piloting Spaces in January inside its proprietary generative AI platform, describing it as a collaboration environment for AI-assisted work. Bank of America in March launched AI-Powered Meeting Journey, a wealth management tool connected to Salesforce that gives advisers information before client meetings.
The pattern across large banks is consistent: use AI first where employees already spend time collecting, summarizing and organizing information. That approach avoids some of the risk of autonomous client-facing tools while still giving management a path to efficiency claims. For Wells Fargo, AI Teammate is a practical extension of its adviser platform rebuild, with the business case still dependent on results the bank has not yet disclosed.
This story draws on original reporting from CIO Dive.
