Clay Hale joined Wells Fargo’s corporate and investment bank as co-head of equity capital markets within the banking division. He will co-lead the equity capital markets team alongside Jill Ford, who joined the company in September. Hale will report to Tim O’Hara, head of banking, and be based in New York. Clay joined from Citigroup, where he was most recently global head of consumer and retail banking, capital markets and advisory.
“We are pleased to welcome Clay to Wells Fargo. A veteran investment banker with a strong track record in leading equity capital markets and industry coverage teams, he joins our platform at an exciting time,” O’Hara said. “Clay will partner with Jill to drive origination activity, lead equity capital markets transactions across multiple industries, and support us in the growth ambitions of our corporate and investment bank.”
“I’ve worked across the table from Clay on many transactions through the years,” Ford said. “He is an incredibly skilled banker and I’m excited to partner with him to lead and grow Wells Fargo’s ECM business.”
With nearly 30 years of investment banking experience, Hale spent 20 years in Citigroup’s equity capital markets business, where he ultimately held leadership roles, including co-head of the equity capital markets Americas group (2016-2019) and head of the strategic equity solutions Americas group (2005-2019). He has led equity capital markets transactions for numerous corporate and financial sponsor clients across industries including industrials, chemicals, packaging, homebuilding, media, consumer and retail, among others. Hale joined the former Smith Barney in 1995 working in the energy and power and M&A groups before transitioning to equity capital markets.
