The acquisition by Wells Fargo & Company of WachoviaCorporation, which secured Federal Reserve System approval Sunday,puts the company on track to be the fourth-largest insurance brokerin the United States, a consultant said.

The deal, which was worth more than $15 billion at the time ofits announcement when Wells Fargo was trading at $35.16 a share onOct. 2, would not only merge the two companies banking operationsbut also bring together the insurance brokerage operations,something an earlier deal between Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachoviaand Citigroup Inc. would not have done.

Robert J. Lieblein, managing partner with Hales & Company inHarrisburg, Pa., called it “a great opportunity” for Wells Fargo toexpand its footprint and put itself in place as not only thelargest bank-owned insurance brokerage firm, but also the fourthlargest insurance broker in the United States surpassing Arthur J.Gallagher.

He said San Francisco-based Wells Fargo is well known for crossselling to its customers and this presented even greateropportunities “to take the Wachovia insurance practice andincorporate it into the Wells Fargo culture.”

There may be some overlap in insurance brokerage services insome areas of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, but overall, it wouldmean a significant expansion of insurance brokerage territory forthe firm, Mr. Lieblein said.

In 2005, Wachovia acquired Palmer & Cay, doubling theinsurance revenues of the bank, he pointed out, making it anational broker, putting it in the same business league as WellsFargo with mid-market and some large market accounts.

This will not be a game changer for most brokers, said Mr.Lieblein, in that they will continue with their respective growthand merger and acquisition strategies, but “I look at what Wellsdoes from coast to coast and they are extremely strong throughoutthe nation.”

This could cause Wells Fargo to slow down some of itsacquisition as it works through the integration of Wachovia, hesuggested, but that does not mean they will stop acquisitions.

Today, Wells Fargo Insurance Services announced it had acquiredEMAR Group, headquartered in Livingston, N.J., with an office inFlorida. Terms of the deal were not released.

EMAR serves middle market and upper middle market clients, witha concentration in transportation, construction, real estate andfinancial institutions. It also has access to specialty marketprogram in small business niches including the limousine servicesand restaurant industries.

While there are some integration risks, Mr. Lieblein pointed outthat Wells Fargo did a very good job of integrating ABD InsuranceServices with its operations when Wells Fargo acquired Greater BayBancorp in 2007. He felt that with that experience they should havea leg up on putting a large merger together.

Last year, Wachovia reported insurance revenues of $422 millionand Wells Fargo reported just under $1.3 billion, noted Mr.Lieblein. Wachovia has 42 insurance offices in 20 states, whileWells Fargo has 171 offices in 37 states.

Gallagher and Wells Fargo were close in size, but thisacquisition will clearly put Wells Fargo in fourth place, said Mr.Lieblein.

“Assuming they can integrate this well and adopt some of theWells Fargo cross selling culture, I think this is a tremendousopportunity for Wells Fargo,” he said, adding that one impedimentto Wells Fargo growing its insurance brokerage arm along the Eastcoast has been a lack of bank networks.

In late September, a deal was announced between Wachovia andCitigroup for $2.16 billion of Wachovia's banking services thatwould have spun off its other division, including insurancebrokerage, into a separate company.

However, Wells Fargo later emerged saying it had a definitivedeal with Wachovia. A legal battle ensued that ended with Citigroupgiving up efforts to acquire Wachovia, but saying it would seek $60billion in damages.

In conference calls and filing with the Securities and ExchangeCommission, Wells Fargo said it expects to complete the Wachoviadeal during the fourth quarter of this year.

The combined companies will have $1.42 trillion in assets, $787billion in deposits and 48 million customers, Wells Fargo said.

Representatives from both companies said they could not discussthe deal because details of the merger between the insuranceservices have yet to be worked out.

Vince Scanlon from Wachovia Insurance Services said, “It is tooearly to talk about specifics because details of the transactionare still being finalized. However, we are excited about theprospects of combining the twelfth largest insurance broker withthe fourth largest insurance broker.”