Wells Fargo & Co's brokerage expects to add more than 1,400 financial advisers this year through a combination of poaching from rivals and training rookie brokers.

Wells Fargo Advisors, comprising the combination of A.G Edwards, Wachovia Securities and Wells Fargo, will recruit more than 1,000 brokers this year and train another 400 people switching from other professions, a spokeswoman said.

The St Louis-based unit last year recruited a record 1,300 brokers and added 400 trainees, continuing five years of growth in its advisory force.

Wells Fargo does business through a traditional retail brokerage, bank branch-based brokers and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, which supports independent financial advisers.

In all, Wells Fargo ended last year with 14,961 advisers, just shy of Bank of America's Merrill Lynch, the second-largest broker at 15,006 advisers. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, owned by Morgan Stanley and Citigroup , has the largest adviser force with about 18,135 worldwide.

(Reporting by Joseph A. Giannone, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

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