Wells Fargo Securities Adds Cohen to Help Lead Municipal Bond Research

Wells Fargo Securities, part of Wells Fargo & Company, today announced that Natalie Cohen has joined its Research & Economics Department as managing director and senior municipal bond research analyst.

"We are delighted to have Natalie join the research team to launch our municipal bond research effort,” said Diane Schumaker-Krieg, Global Head of Research & Economics at Wells Fargo. "Natalie’s extensive knowledge and experience in the industry will significantly enhance our service capabilities in the municipal bond space.”

Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Cohen founded National Municipal Research, Inc. an independent consulting and research company which provided clients with advice on trends in U.S. state/local government finance and municipal securities. Before that, she was a managing director at Financial Security Assurance (FSA), a bond insurance company. Her other experience includes: underwriting financial guarantee insurance for high yield public securities and private placements at American Capital Access and Enhance Reinsurance/Asset Guaranty (now Radian). She has also worked in government at New York City’s Office of Management and Budget and at Moody’s Investors Service. In addition, Cohen is known for her published research on municipal bond defaults and municipal credit trends and most recently her blog, thepublicpurse.com.

Cohen received her B.A. degree from Hampshire College and her M.P.A. degree from New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service. She will be based in New York.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.2 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 10,000 banking stores, 12,000 ATMs, the Internet (wellsfargo.com and wachovia.com), and other distribution channels across North America and internationally. With more than 278,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in America. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked #19 on Fortune’s 2009 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy all our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially.

Wells Fargo Securities is the trade name for certain capital markets and investment banking services of Wells Fargo & Company and its subsidiaries, including Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, member FINRA and SIPC, and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association.