Ward PettyTwo decades after he helped launch the local office of A.G. Edwards and Co., Joseph Edward “Ward” Petty and other brokers have left the successor company, Wells Fargo Advisors, to start a brokerage office in North Chattanooga.
Benjamin F. Edwards & Co., a St. Louis-based brokerage firm founded three years ago by some of the heirs and former employees of A.G. Edwards, opened an office Monday on Frazier Avenue with nine financial advisers.
The Chattanooga office is the 17th nationally and the first in Tennessee for Benjamin F. Edwards.
Petty, who was recognized by Barron’s as one of the top 1,000 financial consultants in the country in 2009 and 2010, said Benjamin Edwards’ “dedication to providing premiere service and goals-based investment advice combined with its robust selection of investment products and services makes it an ideal fit for our clients.”
The former Wachovia Corp. bought the A.G. Edwards brokerage firm in 2007, and Wachovia later was merged into Wells Fargo after the 2008 financial crisis.