The Union Bank jumbo mortgage portfolio is massively underpriced and likely showing a huge loss. And the entire private bank team from Union pretty much left. The US Bank private wealth team is known to not be very strong across the industry on talent because they don’t pay.
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Private Wealth at US Bank is essentially retail banking. They hire branch managers and DMs as wealth "advisors", but most of them have no actual experience managing wealth. They have the same problem with a large and underpriced mortgage book because that really is what Private Wealth at US Bank does -- they're order takers and only know how to sell mortgages with huge rate discounts. The entire wealth business line at US Bank is an industry-leading joke.
The main reason why US Bank Wealth is awful is the absolutely unprofessional leaders/hiring managers. They have no clue what talent is or how to sustain it. Any Private/Wealth Advisor worth there weight would leave or stay away from US Bank Wealth.
Umm, well first I would say that you shouldn't originate transactional jumbo mortgages as a primary way to develop business. If you are slinging large cut-rate mortgages you are not an advisor -- you're an order taker. USB routinely offers large mortgage rate discounts to non-clients who maintain investment relationships at other firms. This is NOT a common practice across the industry, and no self-respecting wealth advisor would do this.
The OP specifically mentioned Union Bank portfolio. Do you think U.S. Bank Wealth Management had anything to do with those loans? You seem to be talking about something else.
The name "US Bank" is old, yes. It is the former Portland bank that Star and First Star bought and rebranded because it sounded like a national bank. However, the wealth and mortgage businesses at US Bank are relatively new. Private Wealth (FKA Private Client Reserve) was started circa 2008 and retail wealth was stood up around 2010. The bank got into the mortgage business more heavily after the financial crisis. So your point really is irrelevant -- the bank is new to the wealth business, and like everything else at US Bank it is run like a retail operation. Not exactly the envy of the industry. I'd also add to your point about "strategic" blah blah. The only "strategy" at that place comes from the army of McKinsey consultants who took over the bank in the Andy Cecere era, and I would simply point to the bank's total lack of financial performance and stock price collapse since AC took over as evidence of their strategic prowess.
But other than that, yes USB is a great "wealth manager"...said no one. Ever. It's a joke and you can try to convince yourself otherwise, but the numbers tell the real story.
USB is a 130 years plus Banking Institution and WE have highly talented, strategic underwriters and Portfolio Management teams. …..
"Well what exactly could an "experienced" wealth employee do about an unhedged portfolio of jumbo loans?"
Umm, well first I would say that you shouldn't originate transactional jumbo mortgages as a primary way to develop business. If you are slinging large cut-rate mortgages you are not an advisor -- you're an order taker. USB routinely offers large mortgage rate discounts to non-clients who maintain investment relationships at other firms. This is NOT a common practice across the industry, and no self-respecting wealth advisor would do this. A large mortgage at a huge discount and a small deposit account is not a "private wealth" relationship. The client is not working with you because of your ability to advise them on their financial needs -- they are coming to you to do a transaction. Yet, USB celebrates this type of business as though it is. So maybe start there...
Well what exactly could an "experienced" wealth employee do about an unhedged portfolio of jumbo loans?
Lets say someone has 30 years of wealth portfolio management. What could that person do?
Private Wealth at US Bank is essentially retail banking. They hire branch managers and DMs as wealth "advisors", but most of them have no actual experience managing wealth. They have the same problem with a large and underpriced mortgage book because that really is what Private Wealth at US Bank does -- they're order takers and only know how to sell mortgages with huge rate discounts. The entire wealth business line at US Bank is an industry-leading joke.