Wells Fargo & Co. is planning to add to its $444 billion asset-management unit and double its size in seven years, a bank executive told Bloomberg today during the bank’s investors meeting in San Francisco. 

Mike Niedermeyer, executive vice president of Wells Fargo’s asset management group, said the bank is taking advantage of European banks scaling back during the current debt crisis in Europe by adding foreign stocks and bonds and opening more Luxembourg-based funds for offshore clients.

Wells Fargo is currently the fourth-largest bank by assets. While many in the industry are selling off European assets, Niedermeyer said Wells Fargo will purchase them because the bank sees it as a “key growth area,” according to Bloomberg.