First Clearing

First Clearing is a clearing and custody provider for broker-dealers and registered investment advisors, operating as a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Company. Its primary offering is a clearing platform that handles trade settlement, custody, and operational infrastructure for independently owned wealth management firms. Family offices that custody assets through an affiliated broker-dealer or RIA may interact with First Clearing’s platform indirectly, though the firm targets broker-dealer relationships rather than family offices directly.

The firm’s value proposition rests on access to Wells Fargo’s institutional resources bundled into a clearing relationship. Partner firms receive:

• Research and market insights from Wells Fargo Investment Institute, covering asset allocation, equity, fixed income, and hedge fund and private capital strategies
• Access to managed account structures including separately managed accounts, mutual fund portfolios, and unified managed accounts
• Banking, lending, and trust services designed to expand an advisor’s product offering to end clients
• Goals-based financial planning tools for advisor-client collaboration

With over four decades of clearing history and backing from one of the largest US financial institutions, First Clearing offers depth of product access that smaller independent custodians typically cannot match. The contact form data indicates the firm works with broker-dealers ranging from under $500 million to over $2 billion in AUM, across full-service retail, institutional, RIA, and independent contractor models. Pricing is not publicly disclosed. The platform is built for US-based broker-dealers and RIAs; international firms or family offices seeking direct custody relationships would need to evaluate whether a clearing-only model fits their operational structure.