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Morgan Stanley Shares Soar on Trading Surge · Bloomberg Intelligence

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  Speaker 2: Alex Deal, Paul Sweeney. We are live here at our
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  Speaker 2: Bloomberg and Active.
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  Speaker 1: You know where we are.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: No, we're not, Yeah, yeah, we are messaging. We're broadcasting
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  Speaker 2: live from the Wells Fargo Women in Leadership Summit at
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  Speaker 2: Kea Island, South Carolina, where they've gathered prominent women in
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  Speaker 2: leadership to engage in meaningful conversations. So we've had the
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  Speaker 2: benefit of chatting with a lot of those leaders here,
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  Speaker 2: both Wells Fargan from some of the other organizations gathered here.
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  Speaker 2: So we have some good conversations. I'll tell you. The
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  Speaker 2: other story of the day here from stock perspective is
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  Speaker 2: Morgan Stanley's John Tucker was just reporting some really strong numbers.
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  Speaker 2: I was looking at the results. I mean it was
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  Speaker 2: like the advisory business did well, the capital markets business
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  Speaker 2: did well. The wealth management business, which is such a
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  Speaker 2: part of that company, that did well. So the stock's
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  Speaker 2: up seven percent of fifty two week high. How about that,
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  Speaker 2: Alison Williams, she joins us She's covered Morgan Stanley forever.
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  Speaker 2: She used to work there back in the day, so
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  Speaker 2: she knows this company better than anybody. Allison. Was it
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  Speaker 2: as good as it appeared just reading through the you
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  Speaker 2: know kind of the report. It was good.
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  Speaker 3: But I think the real, uh, the real number that's
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  Speaker 3: giving investors confidence in our opinion, you know, is the
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  Speaker 3: wealth flows. So we've had some some uneven flows. Last
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  Speaker 3: quarter was was relatively weak, and I think the rebound
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  Speaker 3: this quarter maybe instilling a little bit of confidence. As
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  Speaker 3: you know, they are strong institutionally, but they have shifted
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  Speaker 3: their business over time to this, uh more towards the
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  Speaker 3: wealth business. Gorman had sort of put some aggressive targets
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  Speaker 3: out there before handing over the rains hits head pick and.
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  Speaker 2: So and so.
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  Speaker 3: To be clear, they really, you know, beat the numbers
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  Speaker 3: across the board. It was led by the institutional business.
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  Speaker 3: The equities trading business, in which they're relatively more skewed,
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  Speaker 3: did very well, partly because they are skewed to that business,
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  Speaker 3: and they did outperform. They had the best growth in
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  Speaker 3: trading and fees across the big sixties US banks, so
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  Speaker 3: upset across the board, benefiting from their mix, benefiting from
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  Speaker 3: their performance. But the wealth flows are really what the
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  Speaker 3: focus is for investors also because stocks are aiding their
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  Speaker 3: asset values, aiding fees and so that pre tax margin
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  Speaker 3: in the business. The other key metrics also doing better.
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  Speaker 4: Allison, how much can we expect the wealth assets to
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  Speaker 4: keep growing?
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  Speaker 3: So, you know, that is the multiple trillion dollar question.
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  Speaker 3: That is one of the aggressive targets that was put
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  Speaker 3: out there was to you know, sort of aggressively grow
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  Speaker 3: those assets, and it did seem like there were some
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  Speaker 3: pretty healthy market gains priced in. So the markets are
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  Speaker 3: delivering on those gains certainly this year, and the flows
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  Speaker 3: are also helping. But you know, we would want to
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  Speaker 3: see a couple more quarters of evidence that you know,
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  Speaker 3: they've really built the momentum there. We would expect mortgage
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  Speaker 3: family to have a strong quarter in wealth this quarter,
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  Speaker 3: just where stocks are. I mean, the global market cap
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  Speaker 3: reached a record high according to Bloomberg data at the
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  Speaker 3: end of the third quarter. And I would keep in
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  Speaker 3: mind that the pricing of those wealth fees really relates
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  Speaker 3: to the beginning of quarter value. So that's helpful for
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  Speaker 3: the bank for the fourth quarter as well. But you know,
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  Speaker 3: to your question, Alex, when we're thinking about the overall
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  Speaker 3: franchise and we're thinking about the growth, we should keep
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  Speaker 3: in mind that there is a big talent to the
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  Speaker 3: business this year from markets, and to some extent, the
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  Speaker 3: future growth is sowhat dependent on that.
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  Speaker 2: It just seems Alison, as I kind of read your
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  Speaker 2: research and yeah, I know, you guys have great data
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  Speaker 2: on market share across all business lines, it just seems
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  Speaker 2: like Morgan, Stanley, Goldman, Sachs, JP, Morgan, they're just kind
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  Speaker 2: of running away from everybody else on the planet. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: is that in fact the case they have been?
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  Speaker 3: And you know, whenever we expect you know that like okay,
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  Speaker 3: who's gonna who's left that can you know, blow up
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  Speaker 3: that's a technical term, if you will, and see some
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  Speaker 3: more share to these banks who are kind of running
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  Speaker 3: out of names. But if you think about, for example,
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  Speaker 3: what's happening in prime brokerage, right, so a lot of
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  Speaker 3: these larger institutional hedge funds that have you know, sort
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  Speaker 3: of these multipod shops, et cetera. To the extent that
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  Speaker 3: those bigger firms are gaining assets and doing better. That's
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  Speaker 3: benefiting you know, the leaders Morgan, Stanley, Goldman and JP Morgan,
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  Speaker 3: And so as the bigger clients get bigger, that's helping
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  Speaker 3: those firms as well. Within the trading business. The other
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  Speaker 3: thing I would point to is, you know, the investments
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  Speaker 3: in technology. These companies have made the investments in technology,
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  Speaker 3: and that's also helping them to win share in the
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  Speaker 3: trading businesses.
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  Speaker 4: I'm gonna steal Paul's comment slash question from earlier in
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  Speaker 4: the show saying, what does this all mean about the
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  Speaker 4: European banks? And are the US banks eating their lunch
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  Speaker 4: or is the lunch being spread around?
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  Speaker 3: So I think for this quarter the pie is getting bigger.
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  Speaker 3: So you know, in terms of whether eating lunch or pie,
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  Speaker 3: you know, the US banks have been gaining share against
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  Speaker 3: the Europeans for many many years. We think that does continue,
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  Speaker 3: but we think the pie is also bigger this quarter.
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  Speaker 3: And what we heard specifically was, you know, for example,
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  Speaker 3: JP Morgan, strength across regions, and what we heard from
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  Speaker 3: these banks was strength across derivative, prime and cash equity.
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  Speaker 3: So it is really broad based. The other thing that
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  Speaker 3: we think is notable for for UBS in particular is
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  Speaker 3: the strength in Asia. So not surprisingly we saw a
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  Speaker 3: pickup in activity in Asia that really benefited the banks,
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  Speaker 3: specifically called out by JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. We
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  Speaker 3: think that that is really going to be a help
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  Speaker 3: to ubs.
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  Speaker 2: So how about on the cost side, Alison, was there
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  Speaker 2: any discussion about compensation? I feel like that's been less
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  Speaker 2: of a discussion. Point is I guess Wall Street compensation
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  Speaker 2: has become a little skewed, a little bit more towards
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  Speaker 2: the fixed and a little bit less on the variable.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so there's that element of it.
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  Speaker 2: Paul.
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  Speaker 3: You know, the two things I would point to is
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  Speaker 3: keep in mind compensation is a cruel, a cruel through
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  Speaker 3: the first three quarters, So to some extent it represents
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  Speaker 3: the business trends, and to some extent it represents how
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  Speaker 3: they think the full year we'll shake out. Secondly, you know,
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  Speaker 3: compensation for the investment banking fee side of things sort
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  Speaker 3: of was stickier than we would have expected on the downside,
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  Speaker 3: and I think that's because there was such a scramble
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  Speaker 3: to higher town in twenty twenty one, and investment banks
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  Speaker 3: have been talking about a recovery in that fee business
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  Speaker 3: for several quarters now, and so I think they that
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  Speaker 3: that COMP didn't come down as much, so there might
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  Speaker 3: not be as much of a search to the upside.
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  Speaker 3: But if we looked at costs, if we looked at COMP,
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  Speaker 3: you know, in general the profitability was good just because
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  Speaker 3: the upside to revenue was so much. Now, is that
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  Speaker 3: because the investment banks are keeping conservative and going to
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  Speaker 3: see how the fourth quarter shakes out in terms of
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  Speaker 3: the accrual basis?
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  Speaker 2: Is part of it because of the.
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  Speaker 3: Stickiness as I mentioned, But you did see COMP coming
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  Speaker 3: in sort of above estimates, just not as much as
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  Speaker 3: the revenue upside.
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  Speaker 2: All right, that's another good news for investors in these
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  Speaker 2: big investment banks. Alison Williams, thank you so much for
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  Speaker 2: taking the time even so helpful today and then really
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  Speaker 2: are the last week or so as she always is
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  Speaker 2: a record on these big banks report because our viewers,
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  Speaker 2: our listeners really want to get the latest on what's
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  Speaker 2: happened with the global of Wall Street, and Allison is
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  Speaker 2: the best out there. Alison Williams and Bloomberg Intelligence senior Aniold.
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  Speaker 2: She covers the global banks and SAM managers giving us
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  Speaker 2: the delay of the land on lorg Sally again a
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  Speaker 2: blowout quarter in the stock, hitting a fifty two week high.
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  Speaker 2: And you know in these big banks, investment banks report
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  Speaker 2: earnings the next day, what do they do? They go
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  Speaker 2: sell investment grade debt in the parkplace. And that is happening.
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  Speaker 2: All right, we're broadcasting live from the Bolls Fargo Women
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  Speaker 2: in Leadership something in Kiwa Islands, South Carolina.
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  Speaker 5: You know me?
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  Speaker 2: Well done here? Interesting? Oh yeah, I've been here once?
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  Speaker 6: Is that why?
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  Speaker 4: Yesterday so Wells we traveled.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, exactly what happens. That's HAPs when you don't fly private.
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  Speaker 2: officer at g L Homes of Florida, down in Sunrise.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for having us here. We appreciate it. Danielle, talk
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  Speaker 2: to us about what you guys are trying to accomplish
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  Speaker 2: here at this conference. I see, you know, a couple
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  Speaker 2: of conference rooms full of people. You guys are engaged
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  Speaker 2: in some big conversation. What are you trying to accomplish
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  Speaker 2: here at your conference here in Cuba?
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  Speaker 7: Awesome?
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  Speaker 8: Well, first, i'd say, Paul and Alex, thank you so
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  Speaker 8: much for joining us here and for having Marie and
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  Speaker 8: I on this show this morning. And two quick things, Paul,
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  Speaker 8: just from what you said before. One, I'd like you
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  Speaker 8: to know that I would also take the journey in
• 9:42
  Speaker 8: that truck.
• 9:42
  Speaker 6: I think that sounds really awesome.
• 9:44
  Speaker 8: And two, I know First Union wheat first very well,
• 9:47
  Speaker 8: having been with the company for twenty five years. So
• 9:51
  Speaker 8: but with that, it's just such a wonderful event here
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  Speaker 8: are women in leadership sum. It is really a chance
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  Speaker 8: for all these women here today that come from various
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  Speaker 8: industry across the financial and the economic and the business
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  Speaker 8: space to really connect, to learn and to grow right.
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  Speaker 8: Come here, get great content, make connections that they otherwise
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  Speaker 8: their companies, come back to their communities and say, this
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  Speaker 8: as leaders and then also have Wells Fargo play their
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  Speaker 8: part in making that happen.
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: So, Mario, what have you gotten out of it so far?
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: We are you looking forward to get out of it?
• 10:32
  Speaker 9: Well, I've really enjoyed meeting people outside of the industry
• 10:36
  Speaker 9: we have. The circle of home building is very tight,
• 10:39
  Speaker 9: so I've met people in other aspects of real estate
• 10:42
  Speaker 9: as well as other functional departments and areas that are
• 10:47
  Speaker 9: not just in the finance area. So that's been great,
• 10:50
  Speaker 9: and I'm just looking forward to the next couple of
• 10:52
  Speaker 9: days and getting to meet everybody else that I didn't
• 10:55
  Speaker 9: get to meet at last night to great dinner.
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: It was lovely, great weather, yeah.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: Exactly beautiful down here, folks. And if you haven't been
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: to Kiwa, it is And if you kind of like
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  Speaker 2: the game of golf, it's fun. But it's the low
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: country down here. Love it, this whole South Carolina kind
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: of North Georgia. It's awesome. There's unlike any place else.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: They're deer here everywhere, dear like deer, and there are
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: property humongous bugs. I'm just saying I or may have
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  Speaker 2: seen a few of them this morning in the hotel room. Mari,
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: you talk to us about your business, talked us about
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: the home building business. It's we hear so much about
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: a housing shortage and housing affordability problem in this country.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure necessarily how we got here, but boy,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: you were here. How do you guys think about your business?
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: Tell us about your business.
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  Speaker 9: Well, you can debate how many million, but the truth
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  Speaker 9: is there is a housing shortage, whether it's two million
• 11:42
  Speaker 9: or four million. We are a very niche builder. We
• 11:46
  Speaker 9: build only in Florida. We've just been through Hurricane Helene
• 11:50
  Speaker 9: and Hurricane Milton, and we've come through it beautifully. Unlike
• 11:54
  Speaker 9: what you see in the news new construction away from
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  Speaker 9: you know, the coastal era is very different when you're
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  Speaker 9: ten fifteen miles in and the home building industry, you know,
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  Speaker 9: like Wells Fargo has been with us through when we
• 12:10
  Speaker 9: were a couple hundred million dollar company to being a
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  Speaker 9: two billion dollar company. So home building has gone through,
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  Speaker 9: you know, periods of normal growth. We survived the Great
• 12:20
  Speaker 9: Recession and the frenzy that it was, the pandemic and
• 12:24
  Speaker 9: post pandemic, and now we're hitting kind of a normalization
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  Speaker 9: period again. Interest rates have finally made the FED has
• 12:33
  Speaker 9: made the first cut. Of course, that cut impacted bed
• 12:36
  Speaker 9: funds rate. It's not the third year thirty year mortgage
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  Speaker 9: rates because people keep on making that connection. And of
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  Speaker 9: course that runs off the ten year treasury because that's
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  Speaker 9: kind of the normal life of somebody in a home.
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  Speaker 9: But what it did do is psychologically it's set the
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  Speaker 9: stage interest rates are coming down. We don't know the
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  Speaker 9: pace or the how quickly that if those are going
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  Speaker 9: to be twenty five basis point fifty, But what it
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  Speaker 9: does do for the home building industry is it says
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  Speaker 9: at some point that spread between the ten year treasury
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  Speaker 9: and the thirty year mortgage rates should normalize from being
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  Speaker 9: instead of being a one and a half percent to
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  Speaker 9: two percent, now that it's almost two point seven two
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  Speaker 9: point nine. So as demand comes down, the certainty around
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  Speaker 9: rates comes down, we'll see interest rates come down on
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  Speaker 9: the mortgage rates, and I think that'll be a period
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  Speaker 9: where we'll be able to see affordability come back a
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  Speaker 9: little bit. And it'll also take those people that are
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  Speaker 9: in that three percent golden handcuffs kind of mortgage and
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  Speaker 9: let them start thinking about Okay, maybe if rates are
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  Speaker 9: five and a quarter, five and a half, five point
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  Speaker 9: seventy five, I finally start making that move and they
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  Speaker 9: puts more houses into the market.
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  Speaker 4: So talk to us a little bit, Danielle about the
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  Speaker 4: relationship that you guys may have, you know, taking a
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  Speaker 4: company from you know, two hundred million dollars the two
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  Speaker 4: billion dollars, Like, what does that relationship look like?
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  Speaker 6: How do you support it?
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  Speaker 4: How do you have like the faith that it's gonna
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  Speaker 4: work in that relationship?
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  Speaker 8: Oh, I just appreciate that question so much. For first
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  Speaker 8: of all, working with Gil Homes and somebody like Marie,
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  Speaker 8: it's easy to have the faith because in addition to faith,
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  Speaker 8: you've seen the execution, You've seen the impact that they
• 14:14
  Speaker 8: can have, and it's a fabulous business. I think also
• 14:17
  Speaker 8: if we take a little step back, think about just
• 14:20
  Speaker 8: what the role of women in business today, it is
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  Speaker 8: certainly grown, it continues to grow.
• 14:26
  Speaker 6: It is our future.
• 14:27
  Speaker 8: And I think some of what we look at is
• 14:29
  Speaker 8: if you looked at between twenty nineteen and twenty twenty three,
• 14:32
  Speaker 8: women own businesses, we're growing at more than double of
• 14:36
  Speaker 8: other businesses that we're starting, and that number has just
• 14:40
  Speaker 8: continued to grow and to expand.
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  Speaker 6: Over t Why is that what? Why do you think
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: that happens?
• 14:44
  Speaker 8: Well, I think the power of the purse is changing,
• 14:47
  Speaker 8: and I think it's one of those things where we
• 14:48
  Speaker 8: take a look at and say, these are amazing people
• 14:51
  Speaker 8: who are now in the right spaces, in the right places,
• 14:54
  Speaker 8: with the right support, right talent and prowess and engenuity.
• 15:00
  Speaker 6: We're never lacking.
• 15:01
  Speaker 8: It was opportunity, and so now that there is a
• 15:04
  Speaker 8: focus on opportunity, there is a focus on how we
• 15:07
  Speaker 8: as a firm and many financial firms can support these
• 15:11
  Speaker 8: businesses and growth from the first inkling of an idea
• 15:14
  Speaker 8: right in our small business space and our ingenuity and
• 15:18
  Speaker 8: our accelerated programs all the way through how we work
• 15:21
  Speaker 8: with them. In our commercial real estate. We are fortunate
• 15:23
  Speaker 8: at Wells Fargo to be the number one platform in
• 15:25
  Speaker 8: commercial real estate, and as such we have the ability
• 15:29
  Speaker 8: to look in each and every one of our markets
• 15:31
  Speaker 8: and say, where can we do more, where can we better,
• 15:33
  Speaker 8: how can we push the system, and how can we
• 15:35
  Speaker 8: be responsible around that. Maria and her company are just
• 15:39
  Speaker 8: a gem of the companies that we work with. Looking
• 15:42
  Speaker 8: at being value. Add having the right people seeing trends
• 15:47
  Speaker 8: just I think it's constant communication with.
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  Speaker 9: Right I think what's one of the things that Wells
• 15:51
  Speaker 9: Fargo's done really well is we are a family owned business,
• 15:54
  Speaker 9: so they know not only the finance team, but the ownership.
• 15:58
  Speaker 9: They know our CEO, who's a woman, and they know
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  Speaker 9: our chief marketing officers and women. They make it a
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  Speaker 9: point to go out to our communities and meet the
• 16:05
  Speaker 9: people that are actually excavating lakes and doing the construction
• 16:12
  Speaker 9: and viewing the product and viewing our clubhouses. So it's
• 16:15
  Speaker 9: a it's a very collaborative kind of growth. So they've
• 16:20
  Speaker 9: seen our growth and they have been really into our
• 16:23
  Speaker 9: culture as well as our business model, which is very
• 16:26
  Speaker 9: different from a large national homebuilder. So that kind of
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  Speaker 9: collaboration is what made it. It's great for two and
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  Speaker 9: a half decades.
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  Speaker 2: Two and a half decades interesting Daniel's and Dukeratz and
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  Speaker 2: that's one another reason. But that's it. I think for
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: the rest of the day, they're Carolina people coming through.
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  Speaker 6: Oh, I'm so happy you said that.
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  Speaker 2: Carolina people will far I get the whole Carolina thing.
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  Speaker 2: It's tough stuff going the real estate business. Is tough
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  Speaker 2: enough Florida. I mean, every time I turn on the news,
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  Speaker 2: you guys are rebuilding in How do you deal with that.
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  Speaker 6: Risk day to day?
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  Speaker 9: Well, one of the things, I mean, Florida's hadmendous growth.
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  Speaker 9: You know, during the pandemic, We've had so many people
• 17:03
  Speaker 9: come into Florida. But the fact is new communities aren't
• 17:08
  Speaker 9: really like our communities that are single family home communities
• 17:11
  Speaker 9: a couple hundred acres. They are not built on the coast,
• 17:15
  Speaker 9: so you're ten to fifteen miles inland. Some storm surge,
• 17:18
  Speaker 9: it's in an issue. On top of that, you know,
• 17:21
  Speaker 9: finished floors are eight to twelve feet in Tampa, they're
• 17:24
  Speaker 9: sixty feet above sea level, so flooding is not an issue.
• 17:28
  Speaker 9: Then you've got concrete block construction, the latest Florida kind
• 17:32
  Speaker 9: of building code. It's impact glass and tremendous amount of
• 17:37
  Speaker 9: focus around water intrusion. So my heart goes out to
• 17:41
  Speaker 9: everybody impacted by Helene and by Milton, and you know,
• 17:46
  Speaker 9: the devastation, it's super scary and the preparations are important.
• 17:51
  Speaker 9: But what you see in the news of the coast
• 17:55
  Speaker 9: and older construction, it really shows that where you live
• 17:59
  Speaker 9: and how the home build is different, and I think
• 18:02
  Speaker 9: what we'll see in home building is people moving to
• 18:05
  Speaker 9: new construction.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: Because of that, Danielle, I wanted to talk to you
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: more about how the relationship that you may have with
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: women business owners changes as the business grows. Right, So
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: Maria was talking about how they went from a couple
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: hundred million dollar business to a two billion dollar business.
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: What does that mean that they ask of you?
• 18:23
  Speaker 6: That's different?
• 18:24
  Speaker 8: So you know, we're really fortunate as a company to
• 18:27
  Speaker 8: have such talented people who work with all types of companies,
• 18:30
  Speaker 8: different shape, sizes and industries. And so we have actually
• 18:34
  Speaker 8: a platform where we have a head of diverse segments
• 18:36
  Speaker 8: both for our consumer and small business banking, for our
• 18:38
  Speaker 8: commercial business banking, for home lending businesses. So think of
• 18:41
  Speaker 8: the mortgages that we do for a wealth and investment
• 18:44
  Speaker 8: management platform as well as corporate and investment banking.
• 18:46
  Speaker 6: And really what we want to see folks is.
• 18:49
  Speaker 8: Sort of their ability to travel and swim throughout all
• 18:52
  Speaker 8: of the offerings that we have at Wells Fargo and
• 18:55
  Speaker 8: wherever their need is, we can meet them. So if
• 18:57
  Speaker 8: we have a client who's looking for their first credit
• 19:00
  Speaker 8: line ever, right, we can work with the small business administration. Well,
• 19:03
  Speaker 8: I love to say that small businesses become big, great businesses,
• 19:07
  Speaker 8: and so the needs are different at that point in time, Right,
• 19:10
  Speaker 8: the facility sizes get larger, the way in which they
• 19:12
  Speaker 8: issued at might get larger. And then imagine the founder
• 19:15
  Speaker 8: of a company after six, seven, ten years has.
• 19:18
  Speaker 6: The ability to IPO.
• 19:19
  Speaker 8: What I really love is that one we can meet
• 19:22
  Speaker 8: all those needs too, we can advise along the way.
• 19:25
  Speaker 8: And three to watch generational wealth grow. That has to
• 19:29
  Speaker 8: be one of the most rewarding things to see, especially
• 19:33
  Speaker 8: women in business, as they learn, as they grow, as
• 19:37
  Speaker 8: they execute and achieve. It's actually an honor to be
• 19:40
  Speaker 8: part of that. And I think we can along the way. Yeah,
• 19:43
  Speaker 8: that's nae Eryria at.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Your company gl homes here he talks about it. I
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: mean the growth you guys must be dealing with it.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: We think about South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas being these
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: great growth markets, which they've always been quite frankly for
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: the forty years I've been in investment bank business. That's
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: where the growth has been. Then comes pandemic and then
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: it takes to another level.
• 20:02
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it explodes.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: Talk to us about the last four to five years
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: for you guys, How is your business change, How is
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: your planning change? How is maybe your banking needs changed?
• 20:10
  Speaker 9: Our business has changed dramatically. We went through some really
• 20:14
  Speaker 9: difficult times. Getting a house built during the pandemic used
• 20:17
  Speaker 9: to took six to twelve months before and it could
• 20:20
  Speaker 9: go from nine to eighteen months. And now we're seeing
• 20:23
  Speaker 9: it kind of come back to normal. You know, supply
• 20:26
  Speaker 9: chain issues have kind of normalized. But during that time
• 20:30
  Speaker 9: it was kind of all hands out deck. We reached
• 20:32
  Speaker 9: out to like Wells Fargo when the market was struggling
• 20:35
  Speaker 9: in Florida. You're you're building a million dollar homes, So
• 20:39
  Speaker 9: we reached out to Wells Fargo and said, we need
• 20:41
  Speaker 9: help on the mortgage side of the equation, particularly for
• 20:45
  Speaker 9: jumbo loans. So we reached out to all of our contacts.
• 20:49
  Speaker 9: We actually grew our facility from being you know, we
• 20:54
  Speaker 9: were in bilateral agreements. We have now a corporate facility
• 20:57
  Speaker 9: and Wells Fargo helped us with that. Grew three hundred
• 21:01
  Speaker 9: million dollars during the pandemic, and it's just, you know,
• 21:06
  Speaker 9: a very different business. Also, demand is really different and
• 21:10
  Speaker 9: trends changed a lot. We went through a period of
• 21:13
  Speaker 9: time kind of pre pandemic that everybody wanted a media room,
• 21:16
  Speaker 9: designated spaces. During the pandemic, they was like, I need
• 21:20
  Speaker 9: flex space. I need to use it for yoga one day.
• 21:22
  Speaker 9: I need to use it for an office for a
• 21:24
  Speaker 9: different day. People were home more, laundry rooms got bigger,
• 21:27
  Speaker 9: kitchens got bigger, and now they're kind of coming back
• 21:30
  Speaker 9: to like maybe even formal dining is coming back a
• 21:33
  Speaker 9: little bit. So the product changed a great deal and
• 21:37
  Speaker 9: what people wanted in the communities. The pools had to
• 21:40
  Speaker 9: be bigger, the dining had to be bigger, the outdoor
• 21:42
  Speaker 9: had been you know sports. We went one community as
• 21:45
  Speaker 9: thirty seven pickleball course.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: Oh my god.
• 21:48
  Speaker 9: Yeah, and they're building fifteen more and Padel's coming on.
• 21:52
  Speaker 9: So the activities that had to be provided are completely different.
• 21:56
  Speaker 9: So it's about knowing your customer and what they want.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: So when you have to grow that fast, Maria, what's
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: the biggest struggle in growing that fast and having to
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: pivot that quickly.
• 22:07
  Speaker 9: It's getting people trained and inculcated in your culture or
• 22:11
  Speaker 9: a very detailed oriented company privately held. One of the
• 22:15
  Speaker 9: great things about Wells Fargo, Danielle talked about an IPO.
• 22:18
  Speaker 9: If you also say I want to own this in
• 22:20
  Speaker 9: my family for next ten generations, Okay, we're there for that,
• 22:25
  Speaker 9: and let's let us help you with that. So it's
• 22:27
  Speaker 9: really getting people trained. There's such a shortage of plumbers
• 22:32
  Speaker 9: and electricians and getting out to people, getting the trades
• 22:37
  Speaker 9: kind of up and going and getting the training done.
• 22:40
  Speaker 9: Those would be really great women owned businesses. I'd love
• 22:43
  Speaker 9: to see more women owning them because they're kind of
• 22:47
  Speaker 9: detail oriented to scheduling the details of what the work
• 22:52
  Speaker 9: needs to like reaching out to the customers afterwards. So
• 22:54
  Speaker 9: it's just getting all the trades up, people internally trained
• 22:59
  Speaker 9: to do higher volume because you went from maybe had
• 23:02
  Speaker 9: to help start four houses a week to happening start
• 23:04
  Speaker 9: twelve a week to meet demand. So it's just the
• 23:07
  Speaker 9: ramping up is just an immense effort.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Danielle, I've been in the financial services career all my life.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: In diversity has always been, i would say, challenge on
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Global Wall Street. What happens I've seen in managing businesses.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: The incoming analyst class, the incoming associate class is diverse.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Every box is ticked, every boxing tick, every year at
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: every firm. Seven years, eight years later, it comes to
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: the managing director of partnership discussion, it ain't so diverse anymore.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: What happens.
• 23:35
  Speaker 8: You know, It's interesting because they used to talk about
• 23:37
  Speaker 8: sort of the off ramps and on ramps that people
• 23:38
  Speaker 8: see both because of what's in their lives and potentially
• 23:41
  Speaker 8: as people grow and the opportunities that are afforded to them.
• 23:44
  Speaker 8: And I can say what I'm really proud of at
• 23:47
  Speaker 8: Wells Fargo is that we actually focus very well, very
• 23:51
  Speaker 8: specifically in on that how do we keep people excited, energized,
• 23:54
  Speaker 8: and growing. And it's equally as important to how do
• 23:57
  Speaker 8: we keep you doing exactly what you want to be
• 23:59
  Speaker 8: doing and what you're good at doing, and sometimes that
• 24:01
  Speaker 8: means moving within. So some of the programs that we
• 24:03
  Speaker 8: have from a D and I perspective are some of
• 24:06
  Speaker 8: our sponsorship program, some of our you know, our Building
• 24:11
  Speaker 8: Organizational Leadership Diversity or BOLD program, which really takes different
• 24:15
  Speaker 8: leaders across all of our bank and puts them in
• 24:18
  Speaker 8: a development program and something that we've been running the
• 24:21
  Speaker 8: last few years with a great success from a promotion perspective.
• 24:25
  Speaker 8: But what I've also say, I'm really proud that we've
• 24:27
  Speaker 8: also been successful in a lot of ways. And so
• 24:30
  Speaker 8: if you look at and we were talking about our
• 24:32
  Speaker 8: real estate business again being number one, Karen McShane is
• 24:36
  Speaker 8: a phenomenal woman also a Duke grad to throw it
• 24:38
  Speaker 8: out there, who actually runs that business right, And so
• 24:43
  Speaker 8: that's a powerful platform. Our co head of Equities who
• 24:46
  Speaker 8: is moderating a panel with our women in leadership today
• 24:49
  Speaker 8: at Wells Fargo, Judith Barry. We have the co head
• 24:51
  Speaker 8: of our equity capital Markets is chill Ford. Fifty one
• 24:55
  Speaker 8: percent of our employees our women. Our board is made
• 24:57
  Speaker 8: up of thirty percent of our Board of Directors or women,
• 25:00
  Speaker 8: and twenty seven percent of our operating committee. These are
• 25:03
  Speaker 8: the people who report directly to our CEO. And then
• 25:05
  Speaker 8: forty one percent of all executives at Wells Fargo are women.
• 25:10
  Speaker 8: So Paul, I'm happy to say that trend is moving
• 25:12
  Speaker 8: in exactly the right direction.
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: To then Mary, but both of you guys, when it
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: comes to diversity, how do you on Wells Fargo, how
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: do you help housing affordabilities? Danielli's start with you and
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: then Rio, I'd love to get your thoughts on that.
• 25:25
  Speaker 8: So housing affordability is obviously a great one concern of
• 25:28
  Speaker 8: ours and a great focus of ours.
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: Especially how you build well like that's a really it's
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: a huge way to.
• 25:33
  Speaker 8: Do the single largest component and it's it's something we
• 25:36
  Speaker 8: focus on both from the foundation perspective and we do
• 25:40
  Speaker 8: it actually in the whole ecosystem, so both for people
• 25:43
  Speaker 8: to afford it, right, the ability to understand what a
• 25:46
  Speaker 8: credit score is, the ability to understand how we grow
• 25:48
  Speaker 8: the credit score, to the ability to understand the mortgage process.
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: So that's all at one stage.
• 25:54
  Speaker 8: What we've also done is actually work with diverse housing developers, right,
• 25:58
  Speaker 8: So how do we get more diversity in the housing
• 26:00
  Speaker 8: development space? How do we get more diversity in the
• 26:03
  Speaker 8: housing appraisal space? So think of a giant circle in
• 26:06
  Speaker 8: an ecosystem. We actually have to attack every single piece
• 26:09
  Speaker 8: of it.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 26:10
  Speaker 8: How do we support the consumers as they grow for
• 26:13
  Speaker 8: the wealth. How do we help build more affordable housing.
• 26:17
  Speaker 8: We have an amazing Vanessa Rodriquez as a woman who
• 26:20
  Speaker 8: runs our affordable housing and community lending and investment. How
• 26:24
  Speaker 8: do we get more money into the cities, into the
• 26:26
  Speaker 8: states where affordable housing needs to be built. How do
• 26:28
  Speaker 8: we get the hands and loans and financing into those
• 26:31
  Speaker 8: of the diverse developers and then how do we have
• 26:33
  Speaker 8: summits like this that connect people Because what we can
• 26:36
  Speaker 8: do is a lot, but what we can all do
• 26:38
  Speaker 8: together is far greater, and that's the real answer, And
• 26:41
  Speaker 8: so how do we get everybody together? Affording affordable housing
• 26:44
  Speaker 8: is something we're actually one of the leading lenders on
• 26:49
  Speaker 8: and that's something we're going to continue to focus on.
• 26:51
  Speaker 9: Yeah, when you think of affordability, it comes with a
• 26:55
  Speaker 9: lot of different shades. There's workforce housing, there's affordable housing,
• 26:58
  Speaker 9: and there's market housing that's on the lower scale and
• 27:02
  Speaker 9: affordable to people that are a nurse and a firefighter.
• 27:06
  Speaker 9: And that's about having to design product that we can
• 27:10
  Speaker 9: actually build at the right cost. So that might mean
• 27:14
  Speaker 9: that flex space becomes very important to them, the design
• 27:19
  Speaker 9: might have a little less few windows than the four
• 27:23
  Speaker 9: thousand square foot house someplace else. So coming to design
• 27:27
  Speaker 9: product that works at a price point, because we all
• 27:31
  Speaker 9: can't be an affordable housing or workforce housing, there's market
• 27:35
  Speaker 9: rate pricing that can be available at a price point.
• 27:39
  Speaker 9: So that means that there's going to be more duplexes
• 27:43
  Speaker 9: and villas and the whole world kind of needs to
• 27:45
  Speaker 9: get a kind of a adjustment around density because that
• 27:51
  Speaker 9: is one of the biggest issues that we have today.
• 27:55
  Speaker 9: We can build more affordable housing and things that people
• 27:59
  Speaker 9: have afford, but we need a little bit more density,
• 28:02
  Speaker 9: and with the price of land and how hard it
• 28:05
  Speaker 9: is to get entitled, we really have to work toward
• 28:08
  Speaker 9: that to find the right mix and then put the
• 28:11
  Speaker 9: right product on it.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: Guys, thank you very much for joining us. Really appreciate
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: getting some of your time. Danielle Squire's managing director ahead
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: of Diverse Segments at Wells Fargo and Maria Merenendez, chief
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: financial officer at g L. Holmes of Florida Holding Corporation
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: Sunrise Florida. So good conversation on real estate, affordable housing, banking, diversity,
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: all kind of intertwining in there as well. So in
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: depth conversation with good stuff there.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: weekdays at ten am Eastern on Appo car Playing and
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: broyd Otto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: We are broadcasting Alex Steel and myself. You're broadcasting line
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: from the Wells Fargo Women in Leadership Summit at Kiwa
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: Island in South Carolina, where they've gathered prominent women in
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: leadership to engage in meaningful conversation, and we were fortunate
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: to have two more of those guests here joining the
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: stage whether us here this morning, Susanne Marson, head of
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: Commercial Banking and Wealth Partnerships and Executive VP at Wells Fargo,
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: and Jessica Murphy, Managing director for the Southeast Division, Executive
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: Commercial Banking at Wells Fargo Commercial Banking. Tommy, when I
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: think of Wells Fargo, I think of the strength of
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: the commercial and the corporate bank I kind of envisioned
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: you guys talking to everybody from big multi corp multi
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: international corporates all the way down to the small business here.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: So let's just start with you, Jessica, just give me
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: a sense of I could be a successful banker down
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: here in the Southeast. I mean, come on, this market
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: is growing like crazy. It has for thirty or forty years.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: Talk to us about the market today when we've had
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: this influx of people even more than the usual post pandemic,
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: We've got rates coming down. How is business? Yeah?
• 29:52
  Speaker 7: So I've been in my role just over six months now,
• 29:55
  Speaker 7: and when I have the opportunity to move into the Southeast.
• 29:58
  Speaker 7: I've thought about it exactly like you outlined, Paul, how
• 30:02
  Speaker 7: can you not get excited about the demographics, the economic
• 30:04
  Speaker 7: trajectory of the Southeast. Of the eight states that I'm responsible,
• 30:08
  Speaker 7: everyone except one is growing above the national GDP level.
• 30:11
  Speaker 7: That employment statistics are fantastic, and the business environment is
• 30:15
  Speaker 7: very productive. We have a lot of swing states here.
• 30:17
  Speaker 7: We just got out of a real time political panel,
• 30:20
  Speaker 7: a very dynamic and vibrant part of the economy. And
• 30:23
  Speaker 7: then to where you started. With Wells Fargo Commercial Bank,
• 30:26
  Speaker 7: it is an critical and thriving part of our franchise.
• 30:30
  Speaker 7: We intersect businesses about twenty five million in sales or
• 30:33
  Speaker 7: revenue all the way up to two to five billion,
• 30:36
  Speaker 7: So one of the most exciting parts of the US
• 30:38
  Speaker 7: economy and something we do very well at Wells Fargo.
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: What's the biggest question that they have, Like they call
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: you up and be like, look, I need you to
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: answer this. Suzia is actually and nodding, so clearly you
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: want to get into that too.
• 30:50
  Speaker 6: Well, I'll tell you.
• 30:51
  Speaker 5: I think our clients have just a massive range, Paul,
• 30:54
  Speaker 5: you said it. We're working with companies between twenty five
• 30:56
  Speaker 5: million and multiple billion. They're mostly privately owned, we have
• 31:00
  Speaker 5: an election coming up, we have potential, you know, changing
• 31:03
  Speaker 5: economic landscapes, and so really they come to us and
• 31:05
  Speaker 5: we just try to listen to what are they trying
• 31:07
  Speaker 5: to achieve to grow the business, and think about their
• 31:09
  Speaker 5: family dynamics and then try to match off no matter
• 31:12
  Speaker 5: what this scenario is. But uncertainty, it is hard for
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: businesses to think about those decisions. And I think we're
• 31:17
  Speaker 5: always trying to be really dynamic with them on how
• 31:19
  Speaker 5: do we help them navigate that? And I think that's
• 31:22
  Speaker 5: it's top of mind for a lot of business owners.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: And one of the things that I've noticed just in
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: my career is when you've got these privately owned companies
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: and they've created a lot of asset, that a lot
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: of wealth, and then they have a liquidity event, whether
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: they sell the company or sell a portion of the company,
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: then they don't know what to do with the money.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: How do you guys? Like that's a wealth management discussion,
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: And that's what we.
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: Go to you, right, is that's why you straddle both areas.
• 31:44
  Speaker 5: We do, and we work really closely together in this
• 31:46
  Speaker 5: in this way at Wells Fargo, and we think about
• 31:49
  Speaker 5: clients on a life cycle, so they have a personal
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: life cycle as they're building that business and the value
• 31:54
  Speaker 5: and their business life cycle, and we're really focused on
• 31:56
  Speaker 5: how do they stay ready no matter what they want
• 31:58
  Speaker 5: to do, right, so they're prepared if it's a generational
• 32:01
  Speaker 5: change inside in generational ownership and leadership change, or preparing
• 32:05
  Speaker 5: for the liquidity event. So hopefully we're having really good
• 32:07
  Speaker 5: conversations Paul before they get to that event so that
• 32:10
  Speaker 5: they can really lay the found work of all the planning,
• 32:13
  Speaker 5: filmthropic trust, and a state type of dynamics that they
• 32:16
  Speaker 5: need to think about to maximize that value for their family.
• 32:19
  Speaker 5: So it's a whole range of decisions that they make
• 32:22
  Speaker 5: on those events and what they do depending on their
• 32:24
  Speaker 5: values and priorities.
• 32:25
  Speaker 4: And that's obviously the longer term. In the short term, Jessica,
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: we're talking about that uncertainty, right, and the two that's
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: going to affect small businesses are going to be tariffs
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: and taxes. So when they call you up and they're like,
• 32:35
  Speaker 4: I don't know what to do. How do I understand
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: where I should be investing my money in the next
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: twelve months?
• 32:40
  Speaker 7: What do you say to them, well, I think Suzanne
• 32:42
  Speaker 7: answered it really well. It's very specific to what are
• 32:45
  Speaker 7: the capital needs you have in your term? What are
• 32:47
  Speaker 7: you trying to do with this business. Are you just
• 32:48
  Speaker 7: trying to survive because you've been very impacted by say
• 32:51
  Speaker 7: a hurricane or something, or are you thinking strategically for
• 32:54
  Speaker 7: the future in trying to scale at a rapid rate.
• 32:56
  Speaker 7: And the vice will be different. But you touched on taxes,
• 33:00
  Speaker 7: touched on the election, but certainly economics is highly relevant
• 33:03
  Speaker 7: and rates has been the theme. So most of our
• 33:05
  Speaker 7: clients were surprised, even though I think the fud was
• 33:09
  Speaker 7: very clear with rates rising as fast as they did,
• 33:11
  Speaker 7: and now turn around we've had a fifty bass point cut.
• 33:14
  Speaker 7: Our clients are wondering is that going to continue? And
• 33:16
  Speaker 7: how do we take advantage? And Wells Fargo we're not
• 33:19
  Speaker 7: really in the business of predicting. We have a few
• 33:21
  Speaker 7: people on our business that are traders, et cetera, and
• 33:23
  Speaker 7: they try to anticipate that. But what Susanna and I
• 33:25
  Speaker 7: do is help people be prepared regardless, So no matter
• 33:29
  Speaker 7: what the policy is, we want to make sure your
• 33:31
  Speaker 7: business is successful throughout those cycles.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: When I think Wells Fargo I think North Carolina, I
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: think Charlotte, but I also think of now our good
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: friends in the western part of the state, devastation. Devastation,
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: I mean people moved there from all over the country
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: because there weren't earthquakes, there weren't far as fire.
• 33:48
  Speaker 7: It was a climate haven.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: It was a climate haven. Then they got just crushed.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: How did your bank respond to that, because again, when
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: I think of North Carolina, I think of Wells Fargo.
• 33:56
  Speaker 7: Well, I think there's probably two ways. I'll start with
• 33:58
  Speaker 7: just the charitable and outpouring of time and resources into
• 34:01
  Speaker 7: the region. We have, like you said, deep connectivity. We
• 34:05
  Speaker 7: have bankers in that community, we have people that represent it,
• 34:07
  Speaker 7: and then we also have many people that spend vacation
• 34:10
  Speaker 7: and other family time there. So whilst Fargo Foundation donated
• 34:13
  Speaker 7: over a million dollars almost immediately, we have a WEE
• 34:16
  Speaker 7: Care Foundation where employees that were directly impacted can receive
• 34:20
  Speaker 7: resources to combat like just the personal devastation that they've
• 34:23
  Speaker 7: reacted to. Our ATMs have a safe and secure and
• 34:28
  Speaker 7: no service fees donation to the Red Cross, and so
• 34:31
  Speaker 7: I think that's you know, expected and immediate and appreciated.
• 34:34
  Speaker 7: But at a business level. One of the first things
• 34:36
  Speaker 7: that happens when you have a natural disaster is you
• 34:39
  Speaker 7: lose power, you don't have your cell service, and you
• 34:42
  Speaker 7: immediately moved to a cash economy. And so we had
• 34:45
  Speaker 7: a very important role in getting our own branches and
• 34:47
  Speaker 7: employees they are safe and up and running, so that
• 34:49
  Speaker 7: we could support the economy. We had to get cash
• 34:52
  Speaker 7: in to have people make payroll and meet their basic needs.
• 34:56
  Speaker 7: But then we also have clients that are convenience stores,
• 34:58
  Speaker 7: grocery stores, and they need a safe place to move
• 35:00
  Speaker 7: their cash so that they can get it back into
• 35:02
  Speaker 7: the system and account for things. So we play a
• 35:04
  Speaker 7: really critical role in that in the communities that were impacted,
• 35:07
  Speaker 7: both both in West Florida and the western part of
• 35:09
  Speaker 7: North Carolina.
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: How long do you think it's going to take for
• 35:11
  Speaker 4: everything to sort itself out.
• 35:13
  Speaker 7: Well, I'm told most of Tampa will have power by Thursday.
• 35:16
  Speaker 7: I am not an expert. And then on the western
• 35:18
  Speaker 7: part of the state, I mean, this is a massive rebuild,
• 35:20
  Speaker 7: the destruction of the infrastructure of the water system. I'm
• 35:24
  Speaker 7: not an expert here, but what I will say is
• 35:26
  Speaker 7: there's a meaningful role for banks to play in the
• 35:28
  Speaker 7: rebuild and to rebuild in a more resilient way.
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, how do you talk to clients about how to
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: build up their business and then monetize that wealth at
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: the same time.
• 35:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's a fantastic conversation. So most of
• 35:41
  Speaker 5: our clients are private or privately controlled public companies. Half
• 35:45
  Speaker 5: of their mindset is absolutely focused on growing the business,
• 35:48
  Speaker 5: and half of their mindset is thinking about growing that
• 35:50
  Speaker 5: business and the value for a legacy for some reason,
• 35:53
  Speaker 5: generational transition or otherwise. And I think we just our
• 35:56
  Speaker 5: teams deliver in an excellent passion. So when it's business growth,
• 36:00
  Speaker 5: we're talking about growing through acquisitions or growing organically or
• 36:03
  Speaker 5: all of the things we'd naturally talk about with our
• 36:05
  Speaker 5: executive teams. And then what we're translating that back into
• 36:08
  Speaker 5: for their business is preparing for that event, right, and
• 36:12
  Speaker 5: so what do you want to do with this great
• 36:13
  Speaker 5: business that you have built? And we have teams oriented
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: just around that conversation, So we don't we're indifferent if
• 36:20
  Speaker 5: it's an exit or a generational change. We just want
• 36:22
  Speaker 5: them to be ready and it matches against what their
• 36:24
  Speaker 5: personal objectives and values are to do it, and so
• 36:27
  Speaker 5: we deliver that through great teams on our commercial bank
• 36:29
  Speaker 5: and our great teams in the wealth platform as well.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: And Jessica, when I banked the Southeast way back in
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: the day and week for securities, again the source of
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: your broker dealer light license. Thank you, You're welcome. We
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: banked trucking companies, furniture companies, broadcasting companies. I think it's
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: probably changed a lot since then. Talk to us about
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: kind of the companies, the areas of opportunity that you
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: guys see in the Southeast.
• 36:53
  Speaker 7: Well, it's changed, and it hasn't. I mean, those companies
• 36:55
  Speaker 7: are still the backbone of the economy here. But what
• 36:58
  Speaker 7: we have seen is our end Tree expertise in the
• 37:01
  Speaker 7: tech sector, in healthcare, in some of our kind of
• 37:05
  Speaker 7: other verticals have been exploding. And what we've done is
• 37:09
  Speaker 7: try to pull all those threads together to support the economy.
• 37:12
  Speaker 7: But certainly women led businesses, obviously this would be an
• 37:14
  Speaker 7: example of an event like that. In twenty twenty three,
• 37:17
  Speaker 7: women started two point seven or created two point seven
• 37:20
  Speaker 7: trillion dollars in revenue from businesses that they lead. So
• 37:24
  Speaker 7: that's just that's not just in the Southeast though, but
• 37:28
  Speaker 7: we recently I'll just highlight a cool event. We sponsored
• 37:31
  Speaker 7: a film called Show Her the Money, and it shines
• 37:33
  Speaker 7: light on the fact that female entrepreneurs receive significantly less
• 37:36
  Speaker 7: venture capital than their male counterparts, despite their very successful
• 37:40
  Speaker 7: track record and according to a BCG study, better return
• 37:43
  Speaker 7: on investment. And so we show the film in a
• 37:45
  Speaker 7: community we are in Raleigh, and we had centers of influence,
• 37:49
  Speaker 7: clients and other important leaders in the community talk about
• 37:52
  Speaker 7: how to address that, not just because it's a good idea,
• 37:56
  Speaker 7: but because of the great investment.
• 37:57
  Speaker 4: Right exactly, it's not just like support it because it's nice,
• 38:00
  Speaker 4: do it because it makes money. And we're going to
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: put that out there. Suzanne, are you talking to businesses
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: right now in terms of their long term trajectory? I
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: know it's a curated process, but is it more private
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: for longer?
• 38:11
  Speaker 6: Is it?
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: Is it conversation IPO? How has that type of conversation changed?
• 38:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah, And I think over the last decade, you know,
• 38:20
  Speaker 5: the evolution of private equity and private capital has changed
• 38:23
  Speaker 5: the landscape on alternatives for private business owners. But I
• 38:27
  Speaker 5: also think even in the last five years, if someone
• 38:29
  Speaker 5: wants to stay private for longer, you know, partnerships between
• 38:32
  Speaker 5: family offices and investors that might have a longer time horizon.
• 38:37
  Speaker 5: The landscape has changed for alternatives for exits or continuation
• 38:41
  Speaker 5: of involvement and minority fashion. So I think what we
• 38:44
  Speaker 5: have tried to do is continue to adapt, again being
• 38:47
  Speaker 5: very indifferent to how they want to exit, but making
• 38:49
  Speaker 5: sure that they know their alternatives, and I think the
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: size of the company, the industry that they're in, you know,
• 38:54
  Speaker 5: we try to just deliver it into that conversation. There's
• 38:58
  Speaker 5: absolutely continues to be a lot of great streamategic activity too,
• 39:01
  Speaker 5: and so somebody's best client may be their best acquirer
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: down the road. And so I think the opportunity to
• 39:07
  Speaker 5: just continue to open up for private business owners in
• 39:10
  Speaker 5: that conversation.
• 39:11
  Speaker 7: Maybe just to add in because it ties to the
• 39:12
  Speaker 7: question that you are asking. Ultimately, building a business or
• 39:15
  Speaker 7: leading a meaningful business is still one of them to
• 39:18
  Speaker 7: create wealth. And when women do that successfully, it changes
• 39:21
  Speaker 7: their famili's financial trajectory, but it also gives them a
• 39:24
  Speaker 7: platform for impact. And so we're constantly thinking of those things.
• 39:28
  Speaker 7: And people just because they build a successful business, the
• 39:31
  Speaker 7: families we talk to are very keen to think about that.
• 39:34
  Speaker 7: It's part of the family in many cases, but they
• 39:36
  Speaker 7: want it like a child to grow up, stand on
• 39:38
  Speaker 7: its own, have a board, these kinds of things. So
• 39:40
  Speaker 7: that those are some of the discussions we get into.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: Susan, it's head of a business here. How do you
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: think about talent, tracting and retaining talent? Every business owner,
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: every manager I talk to, when almost every industry that
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: alex Line talked to, they say that as a challenge.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: It's not just a pandemic, it's just in general sourcing
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: and retaining talent. How do you guys approach that.
• 39:58
  Speaker 5: We are a people business still. We just had a
• 40:00
  Speaker 5: really great conversation about AI, but we also talked about
• 40:03
  Speaker 5: the whole human element to delivering what we do across
• 40:06
  Speaker 5: the board. Wells Fargo is invested all the way from
• 40:09
  Speaker 5: sophomores in college where we start to take them at
• 40:11
  Speaker 5: a very very early stage and help them evolve through
• 40:14
  Speaker 5: their career. And we look at that, we think about
• 40:16
  Speaker 5: all the investment in our people, because if we're investing
• 40:19
  Speaker 5: in them, they're investing in our clients and caring for
• 40:21
  Speaker 5: our clients. So there's a lot of robust training programs
• 40:24
  Speaker 5: and development that we have still continued to invest in
• 40:27
  Speaker 5: a great deal. And then I think Wells Fargo also
• 40:29
  Speaker 5: is really supportive of like bringing in talent from a
• 40:31
  Speaker 5: lot of other directions, traditional and non traditional. I think
• 40:34
  Speaker 5: that makes up and then we all kind of come
• 40:37
  Speaker 5: together under a culture that's very very client centric and
• 40:40
  Speaker 5: team oriented team members, so helping people grow and develop.
• 40:44
  Speaker 5: But I couldn't agree with you more. Our clients are
• 40:46
  Speaker 5: focused on the same challenge on how do we grow
• 40:48
  Speaker 5: and develop? Being in the Southeast. We have a really
• 40:51
  Speaker 5: great presence in the Carolinas in Charlotte, North Carolina, as
• 40:55
  Speaker 5: well as other major hub cities around the country. But
• 40:57
  Speaker 5: not only is there a great economic region for our
• 40:59
  Speaker 5: company to you, we're investing a tremendous amount here in
• 41:01
  Speaker 5: people on talent in the Southeast.
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: We thank you both so much. It was a really
• 41:04
  Speaker 4: great conversation. Thank you very very much, Susanne Morrison, Executive
• 41:08
  Speaker 4: vice president, head of Commercial and well Partnership and Jessica Murphy,
• 41:11
  Speaker 4: Managing director of Southeast Division executives for talking through that
• 41:15
  Speaker 4: relationship with commercial banking and private wealth and how to
• 41:17
  Speaker 4: help small businesses really grow.
• 41:20
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• 41:24
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• 41:28
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• 41:31
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• 41:34
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• 41:38
  Speaker 4: Well after you've been saying, We are here in South Carolina,
• 41:41
  Speaker 4: a Kiwa Island at the Wells Fargo Women Leadership Summit,
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: where we gather lots of different people in Wells Fargo
• 41:47
  Speaker 4: who helped build up women leaders and then the women
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: leaders themselves. And we're very pleased to welcome the filmthraffic
• 41:53
  Speaker 4: arm of this. Kwansa Jones is CEO and a philanthropist.
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: She joins us, let me just get the name here
• 42:01
  Speaker 4: real quick for you.
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: There we go found of Kwanza.
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: Jones and jose Fliciano Initiative. I wanted to make sure
• 42:07
  Speaker 4: I got that whole title. And Julie Caperton, head of
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: the private bank in Wells Fargo Partnership for Wealth and
• 42:12
  Speaker 4: Investment Management. Now, apparently Juliet was on stage and we
• 42:16
  Speaker 4: had Kwansa come in and was sitting and then when
• 42:18
  Speaker 4: Julie came running to the set, they hugged and they
• 42:21
  Speaker 4: were chatting and they like seriously love each other.
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: What is your relationship.
• 42:25
  Speaker 6: Well, you want to start, Julie, Absolutely so.
• 42:28
  Speaker 10: Kwansa is one of our clients and a good friend
• 42:31
  Speaker 10: and an inspiration to me and to really our entire team.
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: Did the relationship start first or did this close relationship
• 42:39
  Speaker 4: happen over time as you were building a business once?
• 42:43
  Speaker 11: The latter is what it did, and you know, it's
• 42:45
  Speaker 11: just been I'm incredibly just overjoyed to be here with
• 42:49
  Speaker 11: Wells and to be here with you, Alex as well
• 42:51
  Speaker 11: as Paul. And the thing that's amazing is that that's
• 42:54
  Speaker 11: what this Woman in Leadership conference is about. It's about connecting,
• 42:57
  Speaker 11: it's about community, and that's what having partners and really
• 43:01
  Speaker 11: strong partners does, really really well. So thank you all.
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: Quanta. Talk to us about your initiative, the Kwansa Jones
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: and jose Feliciano initiative.
• 43:09
  Speaker 11: Tell us about that, Okay, I'll tell you a little
• 43:11
  Speaker 11: bit about it. There are four key pillars, and it's education, entrepreneurship, equity,
• 43:16
  Speaker 11: and empowerment. And I like to say that those are
• 43:18
  Speaker 11: the common denominator of things that help elevate humanity and
• 43:22
  Speaker 11: elevate society. When you have people more educated, when there
• 43:26
  Speaker 11: are more equitable opportunities when people are entrepreneurial, which means
• 43:32
  Speaker 11: innovative ideas, and I say, you can do those three things.
• 43:36
  Speaker 11: But if you're not empowered, if you don't get off
• 43:38
  Speaker 11: your tush and do something, then nothing happens. So that's
• 43:41
  Speaker 11: what the initiative does. It really invests in those four
• 43:44
  Speaker 11: key areas. And by investment, it's not just for profit investment.
• 43:48
  Speaker 11: It's actually not for profit investment too. And that's where
• 43:51
  Speaker 11: a lot of the things comes into play with some
• 43:53
  Speaker 11: of the partnership that we have.
• 43:55
  Speaker 4: So how did this relationship want it's working out. So
• 43:57
  Speaker 4: you started a foundation and you're like, hey, I want
• 43:58
  Speaker 4: to grow it. This is what I want to do.
• 44:01
  Speaker 4: Quansa talk to me about that.
• 44:02
  Speaker 11: Okay, well I have to go really really really really
• 44:05
  Speaker 11: really far back.
• 44:06
  Speaker 6: We got time.
• 44:07
  Speaker 11: Okay, here it is, We've got But do you have
• 44:09
  Speaker 11: decades because what I like to say is, okay, decades
• 44:13
  Speaker 11: and nine minutes ago. I like to say that I
• 44:17
  Speaker 11: dream in decades, and I've always dreamed in decades. Undergraduate,
• 44:21
  Speaker 11: I went to Princeton and there at school it's always
• 44:25
  Speaker 11: about service and Princeton being in the nation service and
• 44:28
  Speaker 11: in the service of all nations. And for me, being
• 44:31
  Speaker 11: a longtime client of Wells, and I mean a long, long,
• 44:34
  Speaker 11: long time client back when I was in high school
• 44:38
  Speaker 11: and then it's just followed me throughout all my endeavors
• 44:41
  Speaker 11: in pursuits and that's what's been really great. So I
• 44:44
  Speaker 11: think it wasn't about starting the foundation and then finding
• 44:47
  Speaker 11: the partners. It was about dreaming and having the vision
• 44:50
  Speaker 11: and knowing what it was it wanted to be accomplished,
• 44:52
  Speaker 11: and then finding the partners along the way and Wells
• 44:55
  Speaker 11: and just happened to be a partner along the way.
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: Julie, talk to us about your side of the what's
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: a typical client for you? What types of services do
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: you try to bring to them.
• 45:05
  Speaker 10: So, as the head of the private bank, I work
• 45:07
  Speaker 10: with our high net worth client segment, but that really spans,
• 45:11
  Speaker 10: you know, from people who have investable assets around ten
• 45:14
  Speaker 10: million dollars, you know, all the way up to the
• 45:15
  Speaker 10: multi multi billionaires that we work with and really our
• 45:19
  Speaker 10: mantra and what I like to say is we like
• 45:22
  Speaker 10: to meet our clients where they are. We have every
• 45:25
  Speaker 10: product and service that you could ever need as a
• 45:28
  Speaker 10: large financial institution. But the reality is that's not what
• 45:31
  Speaker 10: it's all about. It's about the personal relationships. It's about listening.
• 45:35
  Speaker 10: It's about understanding what your clients need and bringing those
• 45:39
  Speaker 10: products and services to help them achieve their goals. Lots
• 45:42
  Speaker 10: of people have products and services. The reality is that
• 45:44
  Speaker 10: piece of the business has really been commoditized over time,
• 45:48
  Speaker 10: and what the business is about is understanding our clients,
• 45:52
  Speaker 10: understanding their goals and needs, helping them achieve them in
• 45:56
  Speaker 10: a way that feels comfortable for them, and then a
• 45:58
  Speaker 10: way that adds value to them. The most important and
• 46:02
  Speaker 10: precious commodity is time. It's the one thing that you
• 46:05
  Speaker 10: can't replace. So when I think about what we can
• 46:08
  Speaker 10: do for our clients, it's really how can they leverage
• 46:12
  Speaker 10: us so that they can have more time to do
• 46:14
  Speaker 10: the things that they want to do.
• 46:16
  Speaker 4: So, what are some of the typical questions that you're
• 46:18
  Speaker 4: getting right now from your clients at Kwanso or the
• 46:22
  Speaker 4: or high networth individuals. What are they asking you?
• 46:24
  Speaker 10: Yeah, so a lot of focus right now on tax
• 46:28
  Speaker 10: planning and estate planning, particularly as it relates to the
• 46:31
  Speaker 10: estate tax. You know, we have a sunset, you know,
• 46:34
  Speaker 10: coming at the end of the year, regardless of what
• 46:36
  Speaker 10: happens with the election, you can you know sort of
• 46:40
  Speaker 10: prognosticate on where that's going to go. But a lot
• 46:43
  Speaker 10: of people are thinking about philanthropy as a way to
• 46:47
  Speaker 10: think decades forward, right, Like I love the way Kwanza
• 46:50
  Speaker 10: talks about dreaming in decades when when she and jose
• 46:54
  Speaker 10: are thinking about their foundation, they're not necessarily thinking about
• 46:58
  Speaker 10: ten years from now, they're thinking about one hundred years. Correct,
• 47:01
  Speaker 10: And we have a lot of clients that really are
• 47:03
  Speaker 10: thinking about that paying it forward.
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: So, Quanta, what's a typical effort that you guys get
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: involved with at your initiative. If it's a typical company
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: or typical client.
• 47:13
  Speaker 11: Grant, oh, my goodness, all of the above. Where's the boxer?
• 47:16
  Speaker 11: You check all of the above, because it is. But
• 47:18
  Speaker 11: I would like to say that it's a it's in
• 47:20
  Speaker 11: a really focused way, and it's not only at times.
• 47:24
  Speaker 11: And I'm going to say this, and I don't want
• 47:25
  Speaker 11: to be dismissive of anyone's place in space at all,
• 47:31
  Speaker 11: is that money can be the easy part. And when
• 47:34
  Speaker 11: Julie is talking about, hey, certain things have been commoditized
• 47:37
  Speaker 11: for all, say and I it can be the easy part,
• 47:39
  Speaker 11: but it's not the most impactful part. What can be
• 47:42
  Speaker 11: done is there, but it's actually doing programming along with
• 47:45
  Speaker 11: doing the money and the financial and the capital support.
• 47:48
  Speaker 11: So what we do and we're getting involved in something,
• 47:51
  Speaker 11: it could be businesses like diverse businesses, and I'd like
• 47:56
  Speaker 11: to say that we invest intentionally but not exclusively and
• 48:00
  Speaker 11: underrepresented businesses. So being here at a women's event that
• 48:04
  Speaker 11: could look like we are investing in women's sports businesses.
• 48:08
  Speaker 11: It could be look like we're investing. For example, at Princeton,
• 48:13
  Speaker 11: there was a pretty significant gift that we did a
• 48:16
  Speaker 11: number of years ago and they're actually dorms named after
• 48:18
  Speaker 11: Julse as well as named after me, because it's representation
• 48:22
  Speaker 11: also matters. So we do a lot of things, but
• 48:25
  Speaker 11: the programming element is what we're really excited about, as
• 48:28
  Speaker 11: well as the philanthropic gunderwriting financial capital element.
• 48:32
  Speaker 4: How has that vision or donation or grants where businesses
• 48:37
  Speaker 4: changed throughout the decades that you've been working on us.
• 48:39
  Speaker 11: Oh my goodness. I will say it's interesting because how
• 48:44
  Speaker 11: we go about doing some of those things, and Welles
• 48:46
  Speaker 11: has been a great partner in this is there are
• 48:48
  Speaker 11: many ways you can give. You can say, Okay, I'm
• 48:50
  Speaker 11: going to send a wire, Okay, I'm going to or
• 48:53
  Speaker 11: write a check or oh, I'm going to do stocks
• 48:56
  Speaker 11: and do things in that way. So it really is
• 48:59
  Speaker 11: how do we go in and try to be strategic
• 49:01
  Speaker 11: because again, as I say, dreaming in decades, we're not
• 49:04
  Speaker 11: thinking about just our generation, We're thinking about centuries from now.
• 49:08
  Speaker 11: How are we going in and changing things so that
• 49:12
  Speaker 11: one hundred years from now, when we know our organization
• 49:15
  Speaker 11: is still going to be around, two hundred years from now,
• 49:17
  Speaker 11: when it's still going to be around. How do you
• 49:18
  Speaker 11: set things up a state planning? We just had an
• 49:21
  Speaker 11: estate planning various meeting last week with some of our lawyers.
• 49:25
  Speaker 11: But how do we do it? We do it by
• 49:27
  Speaker 11: carefully partnering with people and thinking beyond the here and
• 49:31
  Speaker 11: the now. So I think it's important for us to
• 49:33
  Speaker 11: just again highlight who we're partnering with and focused on
• 49:37
  Speaker 11: those sorts of things.
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: Julie, Alex and I talked to a lot of investors
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: on our program, and a lot of folks just recently
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: are saying, you know what, there's a lot of uncertainty
• 49:45
  Speaker 2: out there, the election coming up, we don't know how
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: things are going to play out. We've got geopolitical risk overseas,
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: We're gonna take a little risk off the table. Are
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: you seeing that in the private bank as well?
• 49:53
  Speaker 10: Absolutely, saying yeah, absolutely so. I think we've seen risk
• 49:56
  Speaker 10: off really for q some time. I think in some ways,
• 50:02
  Speaker 10: you know, people have missed a lot of opportunities because
• 50:04
  Speaker 10: they've been a little too risk off.
• 50:06
  Speaker 6: Definitely right now, everyone right.
• 50:08
  Speaker 4: I raised my hand for that because I'm just sitting
• 50:11
  Speaker 4: in a fund.
• 50:12
  Speaker 10: Exactly exactly exactly, But the reality is right now, I
• 50:19
  Speaker 10: would say, starting about two months ago, you're really seeing
• 50:23
  Speaker 10: everyone just hit the pause button, right, so not make
• 50:26
  Speaker 10: any major moves, get you know, into a really risk
• 50:31
  Speaker 10: off position, and just wait and see what happens. I
• 50:33
  Speaker 10: think even more than other election cycles that I've seen,
• 50:38
  Speaker 10: people are much more nervous now, and there's so much uncertainty,
• 50:43
  Speaker 10: not just because it's so close, but because it's such
• 50:46
  Speaker 10: you know, we're we're in such a polarized environment right
• 50:49
  Speaker 10: now that it's that it's you know, there's a lot
• 50:52
  Speaker 10: at stake.
• 50:52
  Speaker 4: What do you think, Julie, the role of cash and
• 50:55
  Speaker 4: liquidity kind of short term is going to be so.
• 50:58
  Speaker 6: I think it's incredibly important.
• 51:00
  Speaker 10: I think I think in every way cash and liquidity
• 51:03
  Speaker 10: is more important than it's been in many, many years.
• 51:05
  Speaker 10: Right when you think about the confluence of events that's
• 51:08
  Speaker 10: happening geopolitically as well as environmentally, right, like when we're
• 51:14
  Speaker 10: seeing hurricanes devastating parts of the country that have never
• 51:19
  Speaker 10: had to worry about hurricanes before. Having liquidity, having cash
• 51:22
  Speaker 10: on hand is so important when you're thinking about cybersecurity,
• 51:25
  Speaker 10: when you're thinking about AI like the you know, we
• 51:28
  Speaker 10: are in such a digital world now that all of
• 51:31
  Speaker 10: our access to cash and liquidity is so tied up
• 51:36
  Speaker 10: in systems that can be hacked. You know, you see
• 51:39
  Speaker 10: things all the time that just make you really want
• 51:42
  Speaker 10: to make sure that you have adequate liquidity in an
• 51:46
  Speaker 10: uncertain world.
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: Quanta, you mentioned earlier women in sports, and boy, it's
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: I've just sensed a real increased level of excitement and
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: attention to women's sports in the last several years. And
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: maybe the most recent round might have been Kaitlin Clark
• 51:59
  Speaker 2: that that kind of thing. Yeah, great ratings, basketball, soccer,
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: all kinds of stuff. How do you guys look at
• 52:05
  Speaker 2: that part of the world.
• 52:07
  Speaker 11: Oh wow, So you know the four pillars I was
• 52:09
  Speaker 11: talking about, one of them being equity. Women's sports fits
• 52:13
  Speaker 11: under that umbrella, and when I look at it, and
• 52:15
  Speaker 11: we've all heard the news throughout the years about women
• 52:19
  Speaker 11: not having equitable compensation in terms of the sports world,
• 52:22
  Speaker 11: when we look at now the rise and interest, and
• 52:24
  Speaker 11: I would argue that the interest has been there, it's
• 52:27
  Speaker 11: now just there's more attention. Like you all, the media
• 52:30
  Speaker 11: is now casting more of a lens there, and we
• 52:34
  Speaker 11: look at it as it's important, which is why the
• 52:36
  Speaker 11: program and element for us is still do sorts of
• 52:39
  Speaker 11: things like this to continue to be able to bring
• 52:41
  Speaker 11: greater light to it and invest not just with our
• 52:44
  Speaker 11: mouths and not just lip service, but our dollars into
• 52:46
  Speaker 11: these areas, and not only in the for profit scene,
• 52:49
  Speaker 11: but also in the not for profit scene.
• 52:51
  Speaker 7: So those are some of the things.
• 52:52
  Speaker 6: We look at.
• 52:53
  Speaker 4: So it's a big deal to create an organization like
• 52:56
  Speaker 4: you guys did. How did that start? Is it like
• 52:58
  Speaker 4: a pen and paper thing? And then like you go
• 53:01
  Speaker 4: and you go to Wellsborg, You're like, hey, I have
• 53:03
  Speaker 4: this idea, here's my pen and paper.
• 53:05
  Speaker 6: Tell to me about it.
• 53:06
  Speaker 11: Okay, I'll give you a little bit about how it started. Again,
• 53:09
  Speaker 11: both I'll say and I met at Princeton and he
• 53:13
  Speaker 11: went to Wall Street I went to become a lawyer.
• 53:15
  Speaker 11: You know, we just figured you got to have a
• 53:17
  Speaker 11: family with some lawyers in there. And both my parents
• 53:19
  Speaker 11: were lawyers too. But I remember we did a day
• 53:22
  Speaker 11: off in Central Park and that was a day to dream,
• 53:25
  Speaker 11: and he was like, why are we doing this? And
• 53:27
  Speaker 11: just go with me, just to just go with it,
• 53:29
  Speaker 11: and literally, instead of asking questions, which is what I
• 53:33
  Speaker 11: was asking about, Oh what does your next one year
• 53:36
  Speaker 11: look like, five years, ten years, I said what does
• 53:39
  Speaker 11: impact look like? What's the impact that you want to make.
• 53:42
  Speaker 11: And again, if you sell yourself short by saying, oh,
• 53:46
  Speaker 11: well I want to make I don't know, a million dollars,
• 53:49
  Speaker 11: well you could be leaving money on the table, as
• 53:51
  Speaker 11: opposed to I want to be able to create homes
• 53:54
  Speaker 11: for one hundred people, or I want to be able
• 53:57
  Speaker 11: to create an organization that can help underwrite and fund
• 54:01
  Speaker 11: some of these other smaller organizations that are already in communities.
• 54:04
  Speaker 6: So that's what it.
• 54:05
  Speaker 11: Looked like a bit of a pen and paper, but
• 54:06
  Speaker 11: actually it was a sketchbook because I said, let's draw it,
• 54:09
  Speaker 11: let's draw it out. What does it look like? In
• 54:11
  Speaker 11: that way and then asking the question again, an impact
• 54:14
  Speaker 11: not dollars and then did.
• 54:15
  Speaker 6: You take it to Julie.
• 54:16
  Speaker 11: Ah, Well, at that point, Julie well Wells Fargo had
• 54:20
  Speaker 11: been around at that point because again I had been
• 54:22
  Speaker 11: a long term client of Wells Fargo, and again as
• 54:26
  Speaker 11: our networth increased and our means continued to increase and
• 54:29
  Speaker 11: we gained in a lot more zeros behind our bank account,
• 54:34
  Speaker 11: they were able to partner with us with a number
• 54:36
  Speaker 11: of different things. So it did then one point shift
• 54:39
  Speaker 11: to Okay, hey, here are these other lines of businesses
• 54:43
  Speaker 11: you all have. We're curious about this what is able
• 54:45
  Speaker 11: to be done?
• 54:46
  Speaker 6: So that's how it.
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: Came a Julie. One of the issues I think are
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: one of the challenges and opportunities in private wealth management
• 54:52
  Speaker 2: is this whole transition of wealth from the baby boomers
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: to like my kids. And I know that's a huge
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: opportunity for private wealth managers and view that because the
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: numbers I'm hearing is just amazingly large.
• 55:07
  Speaker 6: It is.
• 55:08
  Speaker 10: It's an amazing opportunity, and we think about it in
• 55:10
  Speaker 10: a couple of different ways. One is the way the
• 55:13
  Speaker 10: client likes to be served and the way the client
• 55:15
  Speaker 10: likes to be reached, and more and more you know
• 55:18
  Speaker 10: that's in a digital format and it's in a self
• 55:20
  Speaker 10: serve format, and it's just you know, the different generations
• 55:24
  Speaker 10: think differently. A baby boomer is distrustful sometimes of you know,
• 55:30
  Speaker 10: online accounting. You know, our next generation doesn't know anything
• 55:34
  Speaker 10: other than that. So really investing in technology and having
• 55:38
  Speaker 10: that digitization is one thing that we spend a lot
• 55:41
  Speaker 10: of time on and think about. The other is just
• 55:44
  Speaker 10: the ways in which we add value because again, you know,
• 55:46
  Speaker 10: I was talking about products getting commoditized, so much of
• 55:50
  Speaker 10: the investment advice is.
• 55:52
  Speaker 6: Available to all.
• 55:54
  Speaker 10: We really like to think about the fact that you know,
• 55:57
  Speaker 10: we can provide help in so many different ways, whether
• 56:00
  Speaker 10: it's on the financing side. It could be you know,
• 56:02
  Speaker 10: starting your career with a mortgage or with a loan
• 56:05
  Speaker 10: that's going to allow for you to invest in your
• 56:08
  Speaker 10: business moving all the way through to you know, even
• 56:11
  Speaker 10: if you're not in a position to have a foundation
• 56:14
  Speaker 10: like Kwanza, you know, having a donor advised fund and
• 56:17
  Speaker 10: making your impact in that way.
• 56:19
  Speaker 6: You know, we really think about things in the ways.
• 56:22
  Speaker 10: That we can add value to the client as opposed
• 56:25
  Speaker 10: to a product specific kind of thing.
• 56:27
  Speaker 11: And I'd actually like to add and you can do both. Yes,
• 56:30
  Speaker 11: and that's what's great about all of that too.
• 56:32
  Speaker 6: Well.
• 56:33
  Speaker 4: We really appreciate it, both of you. This was a
• 56:34
  Speaker 4: great conversation. I learned so much. Thank you so much,
• 56:37
  Speaker 4: and good luck. Kwanza Jones, CEO and co founder of
• 56:40
  Speaker 4: the Quanta Jones and Jose Finiciano Initiative. And Julie Kaperton
• 56:43
  Speaker 4: ahead of a private bank and Wells Fargo Partnerships for
• 56:46
  Speaker 4: Wealth and Investment Management.
• 56:48
  Speaker 2: Great stuff.
• 56:49
  Speaker 4: We love being here on the ground in South Carolina
• 56:52
  Speaker 4: for the Wells Fargo Women's Leadership Conference.
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: This is the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast, available on apples, Spotify,
• 56:59
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• 57:02
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