In a bid to hike its commitment to apparel finance, Wells Fargo said it has opened a new Commercial Banking office in New York City to expand its services to the apparel industry.
Spearheading the Commercial Banking apparel initiative is Joe Pollicino, Wells Fargo Commercial Banking head in New York.
Joining Pollicino is Doug Taliaferro, an HSBC veteran of three decades, to lead the apparel banking office, and Gary Vessecchia, also a former HSBC team leader, who serves as a senior relationship manager.
The new apparel-focused Commercial Banking team will serve customers alongside Wells Fargo Capital Finance, offering factoring and asset-based lending through import letters of credit and customer credit protection.
New York-based United Legwear that designs, manufactures, markets, and distributes legwear and apparel such as Puma to retailers, has been a client of Wells Fargo Capital Finance for 10 years.
“This industry changes daily, and you need a lender like Wells Fargo that understands the market, your business and can change with you,” said Christopher Volpe, CFO at United Legwear.
“Over the past five years, more apparel companies are turning to factoring and asset-based lending to leverage extra cash flow during their cyclical business cycles,” Kevin Gillespie, executive vice president of Wells Fargo Capital Finance, said.
He added, “The differentiating factor with Wells Fargo is how closely our business divisions collaborate to tailor individual approaches for each client’s financial needs.”
New York’s $98-billion apparel industry has nearly 14,000 fashion establishments and is home to the industry’s iconic annual event, Fashion Week, which takes place February 1-19.
Wells, Fargo & Company was founded in New York in 1852 and is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.7 trillion in assets.
Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,700 locations, 12,500 ATMs and has offices in 36 countries.
Wells Fargo was ranked No. 29 on Fortune’s 2014 rankings of America’s largest corporations. (AR)
