Finance

Elite Team Managing $1.5 Billion in Assets Joins Ameriprise Financial for Sophisticated Resources to Take Their Practice to the Next Level

Published

2 years ago

August 13, 2024

Press Room

Elite Team Managing .5 Billion in Assets Joins Ameriprise Financial for Sophisticated Resources to Take Their Practice to the Next Level

The team of five financial advisors say their high-net-worth clients will benefit from Ameriprise’s innovative and fully integrated digital capabilities

MINNEAPOLIS, August 13, 2024–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Q5 Wealth Management, a financial advisory team managing $1.5 billion in client assets in Beaumont and Houston, Texas, recently joined the independent channel of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE: AMP) from UBS Financial Services, Inc. Financial advisors Omar Bitar, Jeremy Saba, Mike Persia, Ed Persia, and Brad Klein conducted an extensive search for a new broker-dealer and chose Ameriprise for the firm’s robust resources to elevate their high-net-worth clients’ experience and significantly scale their practice. Specifically, the advisors were energized by Ameriprise’s innovative and fully integrated digital capabilities that will make it more efficient to consistently exceed clients’ expectations.

Reflecting on the move, Mike Persia said, “Clients are the core of everything we do, and they trust us to provide advice that propels them to reach their unique goals in life. Our team continually evaluates the way we’re doing business to ensure we’re delivering them the highest value. We saw an opportunity with Ameriprise to enhance our client offering and better position our practice for future growth.”

Q5 Wealth Management serves high-net-worth clients across the United States. The team specializes in advising on complex financial situations for individuals planning for retirement, families and business owners. “It’s our job as advisors to make it as easy as possible for clients to manage their financial lives in a comprehensive way,” Jeremy Saba added. “Ameriprise has leading capabilities that create efficiencies for clients and our team, as well as a sophisticated wealth management platform equipped with the products and services our clients want and need.”

The team chose to join Ameriprise’s independent channel because it offered the right balance of tenured support from leadership and flexibility to run their practice their way.

“We’re excited to welcome Q5 Wealth Management to our Ameriprise network,” said Ameriprise Field Vice President Logan Clipp. “Ameriprise is very thoughtful about the advisors we choose to partner with because we put significant time and resources into helping each one grow and serve clients exceptionally well. Omar, Jeremy, Mike, Ed, and Brad exemplify what it means to run a growth-focused, client-centric practice.”

Ameriprise Regional Vice President Tres Rouquette also supports the team.

The team includes their supporting staff, Investment Specialists Kevin Wagner and Ashley Carter, Client Service Managers Sherri Thompson, Brandy Head and Taryn King, and Client Concierge Dena McNiel.

Ameriprise has continued to attract experienced, productive financial advisors, with more than 400 advisors moving their practices to Ameriprise in 2023 and approximately 1,700 joining the firm in the last 5 years.¹ To find out why experienced financial advisors are joining Ameriprise, visit ameriprise.com/why.

About the Ameriprise Ultimate Advisor Partnership

The Ameriprise Ultimate Advisor Partnership offers a differentiated experience for advisors that helps them accelerate growth while delivering an excellent client experience. Combined with the company’s culture of support and independence, the Ultimate Advisor Partnership enables advisors to scale their businesses, deepen client relationships and drive referrals for future growth.

About Ameriprise Financial

At Ameriprise Financial, we have been helping people feel confident about their financial future for 130 years. With extensive investment advice, asset management and insurance capabilities and a nationwide network of approximately 10,000 financial advisors², we have the strength and expertise to serve the full range of individual and institutional investors’ financial needs.

Ameriprise Financial cannot guarantee future financial results.

Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Investment products are not insured by the FDIC, NCUA or any federal agency, are not deposits or obligations of, or guaranteed by any financial institution, and involve investment risks including possible loss of principal and fluctuation in value.

Securities offered by Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. Member FINRA and SIPC.

¹Ameriprise Financial 2023 10-K.
2 Ameriprise Financial Q2 2024 Earnings Release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240813289340/en/

Contacts

Alison Mueller, Media Relations
612.678.7183
alison.g.mueller@ampf.com

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Finance

Norway faces dilemma on openness in wealth fund ethical divestments, finance minister says

Published

3 hours ago

May 12, 2026

Press Room

When Norway’s $2.2 trillion wealth fund — the world’s largest — sells a company’s shares over ethical concerns, should it explain why? This seemingly simple question has become a dilemma for its guardians, the finance minister told Reuters, as a government commission reviews the rules that have made the fund a ‌global benchmark for ethical investing.

Finance

Morgan Stanley sees writing on wall for Citi before major change

Published

15 hours ago

May 11, 2026

Press Room

Morgan Stanley sees writing on wall for Citi before major change

Banks have had a stellar first quarter. The major U.S. banks raked in nearly $50 billion in profits in the first three months of the year, The Guardian reported.

That was largely due to Wall Street bank traders, who profited from a volatile stock exchange, Reuters showed.

But even without the extra bump from stock trading, banks are doing well when it comes to interest, the same Reuters article found. And some banks could stand to benefit even more from this one potential rule change.

Morgan Stanley thinks it could have a major impact on Citi in particular.

Upcoming changes for banks

To understand why Morgan Stanley thinks things are going to change at Citi, you need to understand some recent bank rule changes.

Banks make money by lending out money, which usually comes from depositors. But people need access to their money and the right to withdraw whenever they want.

So, banks keep a percentage of all money deposited to make sure they can cover what the average person needs.

But what happens if there is a major demand for withdrawals, as we saw during the financial crisis of 2008?

That’s where capital requirements come in. After the financial crisis, major banks like Citi were required by law to hold a higher percentage of money in order to avoid major bank failures.

For years, banks had to put aside billions of dollars. Money that couldn’t be lent out or even returned to shareholders.

Now, that’s all about to change.

Morgan Stanley thinks Citigroup could see an uptick in profit. Getty Images

Capital change requirements for major banks

Banks that are considered globally systemically important banking organizations (G-SIBs) have a higher capital buffer than community banks as they usually engage in banking activity that is far more complicated than your average market loan.

The list depends on the size of the bank and its underlying activity, according to the Federal Reserve.

Current global systemically important banks

A proposal from U.S. federal banking regulators could drastically reduce the amount that these large banks have to hold in reserve.

Changes would result in the largest U.S. banks holding an average 4.8% less. While that might seem like a small percentage number, for banks of this size, it equates to billions of dollars, according to a Federal Reserve memo.

The proposed changes were a long time coming, Robert Sarama, a financial services leader at PwC, told TheStreet.

“It’s a bit of a recognition that perhaps the pendulum swung a little too far in the higher capital requirement following the financial crisis, making it harder for banks to participate in some markets,” he said.

Finance

Couple forced to live in caravan buy first home as ‘stars align’ in off-market sale

Published

1 day ago

May 11, 2026

Press Room

Couple forced to live in caravan buy first home as ‘stars align’ in off-market sale

Natasha, 34, and Luke, 45, settled on their new home last month. (Source: Supplied)

Natasha Luscri and Luke Miller consider themselves among the lucky ones. The couple recently bought their first home in the northwest suburbs of Melbourne.

It wasn’t something they necessarily expected to be able to do, but some good fortune with an investment in silver bullion and making use of government schemes meant “the stars aligned” to get into the market. Luke used the federal government’s super saver scheme to help build a deposit, and the couple then jumped on the 5 per cent deposit scheme, which they say made all the difference.

“We only started looking because of the government deposit scheme. Basically, we didn’t really think it was possible that we could buy something,” Natasha told Yahoo Finance.

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Last month they settled on their two bedroom unit, which the pair were able to purchase in an off-market sale – something that is becoming increasingly common in the market at the moment.

Rather perfectly, they got it for about $20-30,000 below market rate, Natasha estimated, which meant they were under the $600,000 limit to avoid paying stamp duty under Victoria’s suite of support measures for first home buyers.

“They wanted to sell it quickly. They had no other offers. So we got it for less than what it would have gone for if it had been on market,” Natasha said.

“We didn’t have a lot of cash sitting in an account … I think we just got lucky and made some smart investment decisions which helped.”

It’s a far cry from when the couple couldn’t find a home due to the rental crisis when they were previously living in Adelaide and had to turn to sub-standard options.

“We’ve managed to go from living in a caravan because we were living in Adelaide and we couldn’t find a rental with our dogs … So we’ve gone from living in a caravan, being kind of tertiary homeless essentially because we couldn’t get a rental, to now having been able to purchase our first home,” Natasha explained.

Rate rises beginning to bite for new homeowners

Natasha, 34, and Luke, 45, are among more than 300,000 Australians who have used the 5 per cent deposit scheme to get into the housing market with a much smaller than usual deposit, according to data from Housing Australia at the end of March. However that’s dating back to 2020 when the program first launched, before it was rebranded and significantly expanded in October last year to scrap income or placement caps, along with allowing for higher property price caps.

Those who use the scheme, don’t have to pay for lender’s mortgage insurance (LMI), which essentially gets picked up by the backing of the Australian taxpayer.

But as the housing market cools, and prices in Melbourne and Sydney start to reverse, housing economists have warned buyers with a small deposit are a lot more vulnerable, and could quickly find themselves in negative equity.

New borrowers, including those who have used the 5 per cent deposit scheme, are falling behind on payments at a much higher rate this year. In the month of February, 0.78 per cent of new mortgage holders were 30 days in arrears, which is twice as high as the 0.39 per cent of borrowers who purchased their home earlier, according to data from the credit bureau Equifax, which was shared with Yahoo Finance.

“The scheme encourages risky borrowing and bidding. Borrowers are gambling with the taxpayers money,” former RBA economist Peter Tulip remarked online last week.

RELATED: Warning as Aussie couple face bankruptcy after using 5 per cent deposit scheme

But for a vast majority, like Natasha and Luke, they still have room to move. According to Loan Market broker Samuel Power, who helped the couple into their loan, their cautious borrowing approach is a common story.

“The only time we would look to move closer to that top-end borrowing limit is if it is the difference [for a client] between getting in or not, provided there is a strategy in place to be comfortable making repayments into the future,” he told Yahoo Finance.

“A key shift we are noticing is there is a shortage of stock in the price range typically favoured by first-home buyers and investors, which seems to be limiting both groups,” he added.

Natasha and Luke pictured in a cafe together. — The moment after Natasha and Luke settled on their new unit in April. (Source: Supplied)

As Natasha works as an actor with unsteady income, the bank assessed the loan on the basis of Luke’s income, who works as an engineer for a Virgin Australia subsidiary.

“We’ve actually had three cash rate increases since we got our pre-approval, which is frustrating,” Natasha admitted.

“If the rate rises continue, then it’ll be consumption spending in our budget that gets cut.”

Two sides to first home buyer ‘band-aid’

Although she works in the entertainment industry, Natasha studied International Business and Economics at RMIT to get her degree.

She understands there is an inherent conflict at the heart of the policy that she believes made the difference to becoming a homeowner.

“It’s funny, I know economists have been sort of across the board very negative about the 5 per cent deposit scheme in terms of pushing prices up. Having studied economics, I understand that, but at the same time, I’ve benefited,” she said.

“So you know, sometimes a policy can work for you, even though you might think it’s not going to work long-term in the economy.

“So, yeah, it’s complicated … policy tends to be a band-aid, rather than something that’s actually structural change.”

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