Investment banks and asset managers unveiled lofty ambitions to bolster diversity after the Black Lives Matter movement’s surge three years ago.
But the experience for many ethnic minorities working in the City is getting worse, according to a wide-ranging survey of 800 senior staff in finance.
Investment banks saw the biggest drop of any sector in the 2023 Racial Equality Index, compiled by non-profit Reboot, scoring 65 out of a possible 100, down from 67 the previous year.
Meanwhile, asset managers’ score declined for the second consecutive year to 63, the worst of any sector in the City, lagging hedge funds, insurance and wealth management. The score across financial services this year was 65, down two points from 2022.
Reboot’s research found that 40% believed chief executives were not committed enough to tackling racial discrimination in the workplace. Nearly half of these respondents said bosses did not understand the impact of racism, and 43% said they believed CEOs feared backlash both within their organisation and externally.
READ There are 1,500 senior dealmakers in Europe — just 20 are Black
Exclusive research by Financial News earlier in 2023 found that in a sample of more than 1,500 senior dealmakers in the world’s largest investment banks, just 20 are Black.
Banks have pledged to increase the proportion of Black employees in their ranks. Goldman Sachs wants 7% of its UK vice-presidents to be Black by 2025, while Citigroup aims to increase its proportion of Black employees in the country to 3% by the same year.
In asset management, just 2% of the UK industry is Black, according to research by the Investment Association.
“This year’s results show a lot more still needs to be done and structural change is key to moving the needle,” said Noreen Biddle Shah, founder of Reboot. “In its recent consultation, the Financial Conduct Authority demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of the nuances surrounding progressing diversity, equity and inclusion. It pinpointed the need for better data and acknowledged that for ethnicity, it should be broken down with sufficient granularity.”
“Real lasting change within organisations can only happen if there is continuous, proactive commitment from CEOs and senior leaders to actively address and confront racism,” added Baroness Helena Morrissey, chair of the Diversity Project UK and a Reboot advisory board member. “This obviously cannot take place overnight, but it is important that senior leaders do not drop the ball amid other socio-economic issues.”
While financial services organisations have pledged their support behind initiatives like 10,000 Black Interns, a project to bolster racial diversity at the entry level, there is still a lack of transparency about race in the City.
Reboot has called for more firms to sign up to ethnicity pay gap reporting to increase transparency and representation of ethnic minorities in the sector. Its survey showed that 63% of financial services employees would be prepared to provide personal information in order to create an ethnicity pay gap report, while 33% said they would be unwilling to do so.
To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email Paul Clarke
The end of the year is a time to enjoy holiday parties, make New Year’s resolutions, and ensure your portfolio is ready for 2024 and beyond.
First, you should take care of basic housekeeping: fund your IRA, pay off any high-interest debt, and look into tax-loss harvesting within your taxable accounts. Also consider increasing your 401(k) contributions. The Internal Revenue Service raised the limit for 401(k) and other retirement plans to $23,000 for 2024, up from $22,500 for 2023.
A pro move: Consider converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, which means paying taxes today, but your investments will grow tax-free in the Roth account. A Roth conversion makes sense for investors who anticipate being in a higher tax bracket in the future, or who intend to leave a Roth IRA as an inheritance to their children who will be in a higher tax bracket.
Potential tax changes are on the horizon and that may make this an ideal time to do a Roth conversion, says Jonathan Shenkman, president and chief investment officer of ParkBridge Wealth Management. The Trump-era tax cuts, for example, are due to expire in 2025. And Congress will probably have to tackle the ballooning federal budget deficits with tax increases, spending cuts, or a mixture of the two. “If you’re the kind of person who likes to plan ahead, then this is a good opportunity,” says Shenkman.
After that, investors should dig into their portfolios with an eye on the long term so that they are poised to take advantage of the return of more conventional market dynamics. The Federal Reserve is just about finished raising interest rates, the economy is projected to grow moderately, bonds are offering income, and stocks are rising and falling based on profits. “We’re back to normal,” says Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer for
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
.
Investors need to “wrap their brain around this idea.”
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
The recent market dynamics mark a significant shift from the period from the 2008-09 financial crisis through 2021, which was characterized by rock-bottom interest rates and paltry yields on bonds. Investors did well with the FAANG stocks (
Facebook
,
now
[ticker: META];
[AAPL];
[AMZN];
[NFLX]; and
Alphabet
,
formerly Google [GOOGL]), as did those who favored U.S. equities over international stocks. But yesterday’s playbook may not work as well going forward.
In some ways, we’ve reverted to historical form. Mortgage rates, for instance, are near 8%. That may sound crazy high to millennial home buyers, but it isn’t unheard of for baby boomers and Gen Xers. Higher interest rates also mean investors can actually get a respectable yield on the cash portion of their portfolios. “You can earn about 5% in a money-market fund,” says Kara Murphy, chief investment officer of Kestra Investment Management. “We haven’t seen that since 2007.”
For investors, year end is an opportune moment to take a close look at their portfolio and financial goals. That means making sure you have the right asset allocation for your goals. Even if you do, you probably still need to rebalance to make sure you aren’t overweight cash, light on bonds, and heavy on stocks (a lot of people are). A 60/40 stock/bond mix makes sense, but investors should also consider how they deploy cash now—to make sure it is generating some yield—and maybe consider adding alternative investments, like venture capital or private credit. And keep a cautious eye on the pricey Magnificent Seven tech stocks: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta,
(MSFT),
(NVDA), and
(TSLA). They are so 2023.
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
Here’s wisdom from the pros on setting up each part of your portfolio for the new year.
Stocks
While rebalancing usually means adjusting your allocations of stocks, bonds, and cash, this year you also may need to rebalance within your stock portfolio. Given that just a handful of stocks have provided much of the market’s overall returns this year, you may be way overweight the Magnificent Seven: Those stocks have outperformed the rest of the S&P 500 significantly. Their return from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31 was 53.2%, compared with 1.2% for the other 493 stocks in the bellwether index, according to asset manager
Tim Murray, capital markets strategist in T. Rowe’s multi-asset division, said the Magnificent Seven have almost become their own asset class. “It’s been such a top-heavy market,” Murray said at a Nov. 14 presentation. “That is distorting valuation and allocation.”
Top-heavy markets have occurred before, and the stock performance of the Magnificent Seven may be justified. But investors should check across their holdings to see how much exposure they have to these seven stocks in particular, and to growth and tech stocks more broadly. “Revisiting concentrated positions is really valuable right now,” says Evan Bloomberg, a private wealth advisor at
UBS
.
“If a client has more than 10% of their net worth in any asset, we want to check that against their plan and make sure they are protected.”
Morgan Stanley’s Shalett recommends positioning portfolios to be slightly underweight equities. “We are not excited about owning the S&P 500 at a market weight,” says Shalett. “It is dominated today by seven stocks that are correlated with each other, and they are all superexpensive as a starting point.”
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
Instead, she sees opportunity in areas that are more interest-rate sensitive and could therefore benefit if rates stabilize or fall. She finds potential value in healthcare, energy, industrials, and small-caps—sectors that have underperformed the broader market and may be poised to catch up in 2024 if the economy continues to run not too hot and not too cold.
“As value investors, we’re betting on mean reversion,” Shalett says. “If this Goldilocks story is real, then you’re going to have a catch-up trade. You’re going to see the things that have underperformed, and that are most sensitive to interest rates, come back.”
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
Investors should also review their allocation to international stocks, which have lagged behind U.S. stocks in recent years. That could change. Asset manager Vanguard estimates that 10-year annualized nominal returns will be lower for U.S. stocks than for non-U.S. developed markets equities; Vanguard projects 4.2% to 6.2% for U.S. stocks compared with 7% to 9% for non-U.S. developed markets equities.
Other wealth managers are slightly underweight international stocks, citing, for example, weaknesses or risks in Europe. But they aren’t forgoing international equities. Sequoia Sentinel Family Office, a unit of Sequoia Financial Group, currently recommends international equities for 30% of equity exposure. That’s less than the firm’s 35% long-term strategic target but it’s still a healthy allocation, says Michael Orfe, advisor group lead at Sequoia Sentinel Family Office. “There are periods of time when international can outperform U.S.,” Orfe says.
Cash
Investors have increased their cash holdings over the past year—and with good reason. Interest rates are higher than they’ve been in decades, and money-market funds are currently yielding around 5%. Investors would be wise to make sure that the cash part of their portfolio is generating some income in this environment. “If you’re not being proactive on this, then you’re leaving money on the table,” says ParkBridge’s Shenkman.
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
Some investors may also be overweight cash and should move back into longer-term bonds. If longer-term interest rates continue to fall, there are gains to be made. And yields on cash could fall if the Federal Reserve cuts rates.
Bonds
For these reasons and more, investors should re-evaluate the fixed-income portion of their portfolios.
Some financial advisors have been recommending clients buy longer-dated Treasuries now to lock in today’s higher yields.
“The clock is ticking between here and a Fed pause,” says Bloomberg, the UBS advisor. Yields, which dropped in the past month, will continue to fall if the Fed gets more dovish. “That means there is reinvestment risk. By the time the Fed does pause, there is a risk for it being too late to transition from cash to bonds.”
Fixed income has taken a beating since the Fed started hiking rates. Kestra’s Murphy says the Federal Reserve’s rapid rate increases meant the “bond market had to take these hits in a very concentrated way.” But yields on bonds are now attractive in a way they haven’t been in years.
Owners of long-term bonds may also benefit should rates continue to fall (as they have this month) and the economy slow down; in that scenario, their bonds could appreciate in value, and investors could then sell them at a profit. Consider this: The $49.2 billion
iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond
ETF (ticker: TLT) is up about 9% since mid-October.
Some investors may choose to buy longer-dated bonds and simply hold them to maturity, collecting the coupon without having to worry about fluctuations in the underlying price of the bond.
Morgan Stanley’s Shalett notes how fixed income compares favorably with stocks, particularly given valuations. “I’d just as soon take 5.5% in investment-grade paper as buy a company stock at these levels,” she says.
Retirees or investors nearing retirement in particular may benefit from the higher yield environment because they can generate attractive income from safe investments. That wasn’t possible before the Fed started hiking rates in 2022. And in the previous decade, some investors seeking higher yields might have bought riskier investments such as junk bonds or leveraged loans. As part of rebalancing within the bond portion of their portfolios, investors should make sure they aren’t overallocated to riskier fixed-income investments.
“With rates going up, a lot of these weaker companies that took on more risk over the past 10 to 15 years, they could default,” says Shenkman. “That’s another reason to move up in credit quality; you want to limit your exposure to these riskier assets.”
Shenkman says retirees shouldn’t forsake stocks for fixed income. That’s because they face longevity risk, or the risk that they will live a very long time and inflation will erode their buying power. “If you want to outpace inflation, you need a meaningful amount of equity exposure,” he says.
Alts
For high-net-worth and ultrahigh-net-worth investors, it’s also important to consider an allocation to alternative investments—but it isn’t a must-have. More investors have bought into alts, particularly high-yielding funds that invest in private credit and real estate. Alternative-asset manager
said in a recent paper that incorporating private credit, private infrastructure, and private real estate can increase the income potential of a portfolio. The firm’s hypothetical portfolio consisted of 40% bonds, 30% stocks, and 30% alts (which consisted of 15% of private credit and 7.5% each of private real estate and private infrastructure).
Sequoia Financial’s Orfe says they’ve been suggesting that clients invest in private credit, or portfolios of direct loans to midsize companies. Private credit is growing as an asset class because some banks have scaled back lending and others are focusing more on larger borrowers.
Of course, alts aren’t for everyone. For starters, some alternative funds lock up your money for extended periods of time or have limits on how fast you can exit. Fees and investment minimums can be high. So, alts are worth a look, but many investors may do just as well with a traditional mix of stocks and bonds.
Whatever your long-term goals, the key is to make sure you have asset-allocation targets to help you meet them and then make sure each quarter that your actual investments align with those targets. It can be easier said than done. This year in particular, investors should avoid making outsize bets based on past market conditions. Instead, align your investments for the more normal market environment that lies ahead.
No allocation can be the right one if it doesn’t help you achieve your financial dreams. “A portfolio is much more powerful when it is tied to a financial plan,” says Kestra’s Murphy.
Write to Andrew Welsch at andrew.welsch@barrons.com
Barclays posted a 30% decline in dealmaking fees during the third quarter — the biggest drop so far reported by any major investment bank as the UK lender has battled an exodus of talent this year.
Barclays made £375m from deals in the third quarter, down by 30% on the same period a year earlier as M&A fees slumped. Barclays posted revenue of £80m from M&A deals during the three months to end of September, down by 47% compared with 2022. A 48% uptick in revenue from equity underwriting, which has been hit by a dearth of IPOs over the past two years, did not offset this decline in investment banking fees.
The drop is the biggest of any major investment bank to unveil third quarter results so far. Barclays kicks off a reporting season for European banks, following Wall Street rivals, which has largely seen dealmaking fees stabilise during the third quarter. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan all posted dealmaking fees that were largely in line with a year earlier, while Citigroup saw revenue surge by 34% and Morgan Stanley battled a 27% drop.
Barclays has been restocking its investment bank with senior dealmakers after an exodus of talent earlier this year, when around 30 bankers — predominantly in the US — departed for rivals. The slew of exits follows the appointment of former Credit Suisse M&A boss, Cathal Deasy, as head of its global banking business. The hire, which displaced some long-serving former Lehman Brothers bankers, has upset many who joined the UK lender after its acquisition of the failed bank’s US operations in the wake of its collapse in 2008.
READ Barclays re-hires top healthcare banker Jed Brody
Overall income of £6.3bn was largely in line with analyst expectations, while pre-tax profit of £1.9bn was slightly ahead of consensus. Barclays chief executive C. S. Venkatakrishnan flagged a possible restructuring.
“We see further opportunities to enhance returns for shareholders through cost efficiencies and disciplined capital allocation across the group,” said Venkatakrishnan in a statement.
In a note, Jefferies analysts said that the flagged cost cuts at Barclays was the “Nth restructuring” at the UK lender. “Management are flagging an upcoming cost restructure which could drive higher charges at Q4,” they wrote
Like its Wall Street rivals, Barclays’ trading revenue also declined. In previous quarters, fees from sales and trading had helped offset slumping dealmaking revenue. However, the UK lender posted a 26% decline in fixed income revenue to £1.1bn, which fueled an overall 19% drop in markets revenue.
Revenue across Barclays corporate and investment bank was down 11% to £1.1bn.
The slump in deal activity has forced most investment banks to roll out their deepest job cuts since the 2008 financial crisis. Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have all cut thousands of employees and Barclays has also made redundancies. It is cutting 50 dealmaker jobs as part of 300 redundancies across its investment bank.
To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email Paul Clarke
Citigroup has hired the head of Evercore’s debt advisory unit in Europe to lead the healthcare team within its commercial bank — a big area of expansion for the Wall Street lender.
Nauman Ansari has been named global industry head of healthcare at Citigroup’s commercial bank, according to a memo seen by Financial News and confirmed by a bank spokesperson. He will be based in London and report to Gaurang Hattangdi, its global head of coverage.
Ansari was latterly head of the corporate debt advisory team for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Evercore. He has also worked in senior leveraged finance roles at HSBC, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.
Citigroup is in the midst of a strategic overhaul unveiled by chief executive Jane Fraser in September, which will see layers of management stripped out and reorganisation around five key business lines. The changes are likely to result in job losses, with 250 jobs currently under review in its London operations.
READ Citigroup to review 250 London jobs as CEO Jane Fraser’s overhaul kicks off
However, the commercial banking division has been singled out as an area of expansion after Citi unveiled financial targets on an investor day last year. It plans to ramp up recruitment, bringing in 900 new hires over the next three years, a large part of which will be within its Asia-Pacific operations.
The unit is headed by London-based Tasnim Ghiawadwala, who returned to Citi to become global head of its commercial bank in 2021 after a stint at Barclays. It has around 2,800 employees.
JPMorgan is one of the other large US banks that is also building its commercial banking unit, even as investment banking activity has stalled over the past 18 months. It added a team of 20 bankers in July to its UK-based commercial banking team, following on from the December recruits of Roger Fix, Franz Kramer and Thibaud De Maria from UBS, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank respectively.
Click here to make sure you’re signed up to the latest investment banking updates
To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email Paul Clarke
Higher coupons and stronger loan structures are among a handful of reasons wealthy individuals might consider investing in commercial real estate today, according to Bernstein Private Wealth Management.
Another big reason is property valuations have fallen as commercial real estate owners have been forced to pay higher rates for short-term financing. According to a Bernstein client note, that has led to a 15% drop in real-estate equity valuations.
Though those dynamics aren’t good for equity investors, there are some pluses for investors in real estate debt. That’s because lenders are now reducing the amount of leverage they provide to borrowers, and are charging additional interest to account for higher perceived risks.
That means commercial real estate debt investors “in newly underwritten deals benefit from more sizeable equity cushions, better returns, and enhanced downside protection,” according to the report.
The biggest misconception of commercial real estate debt “is it has the same risk profile as real-estate equity, and that couldn’t be further from the truth,” says Alex Chaloff, chief investment officer at Bernstein Private Wealth Management.
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
Previously, commercial real estate debt offered returns in the neighborhood of 6% to 8%, but the current environment is likely to lead to returns approaching 11% for the next three to five years, Chaloff says.
Buying real estate debt “allows you to get exposure to real estate but to do so with much more of a safety component than just simply buying the equity,” he says.
Commercial real estate debt refers to loans made to businesses, developers, or funds for buying or developing commercial projects. The loans can include first mortgages or subordinate debt, which have varying levels of risk. Though traditionally the domain of banks, wealthy investors invest in these loans today through vehicles such as debt funds and private credit. Moody’s estimates commercial real-estate debt comprises 4% of the private credit market, though non-bank alternatives are expected to play larger roles moving forward.
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
Chaloff spoke to Penta about how investors can make the most out of allocations to commercial real-estate debt in their portfolios.
Getting Started
Bernstein recommends its income-oriented private wealth clients allocate about 7.5% of their portfolio to commercial real-estate debt. The outstanding market for these securities in the U.S. is about US$5.4 trillion, with banks holding nearly half. It’s more difficult to track what portion is private debt funding, Chaloff says.
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
Industry watchers widely expect regional banks will exit or reduce their commercial real estate lending as higher interest rates, slower markets, and heightened scrutiny following recent bank failures make the category less attractive. That could push more lending into the private markets.
“The asset class has great stability, and that’s part of the reason investors prize it,” Chaloff says. But they also need to watch it closely near-term because of all the moving parts. This includes whether distributions, appreciation, and the caliber of assets added to a real estate debt fund portfolio over time meet individual investor expectations.
Though commercial real estate debt funds—which often focus on strategies such financing retail developments or multifamily apartments—account for a small portion of the broader financing market, they may play a larger role in the future.
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
Investors need to select the right fund and the best strategy for their needs. They should also make sure they are comfortable with the lockup period, or the length of time they are required to stay in the fund. Some funds require a long lockup, while others can be too short with active redemption queues paying out sizable amounts of money to pools of investors. If investors before you already want out, “that’s generally a red flag,” Chaloff says.
He prefers shorter-term investment options, in the range of three years, instead of those with five- or ten-year horizons.
Invest for Different Parts of Rate Cycles
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
Investors intrigued by the opportunities in commercial real estate debt should avoid an urge to go all-in at once with an allocation to the sector.
“Think about what your long-term allocation will be and then build to it,” Chaloff says. “In this environment, I would probably take a year.”
That’s because interest-rate cycles, not calendar years, can affect expected returns. “You want to have exposure to different parts of the rate cycle,” he says. If an opportunity excites investors, Chaloff suggests making investments over two quarters. “The deal flow has picked up meaningfully over the last 60 days,” he says. “But don’t go all in at once.”
Diversifying investments by different origination years is also possible to do through the secondaries market, which allows for purchases of previously issued securities. Through buying commitments from the initial fund investors, in whole or in part, secondary investors can potentially access discounts or shorter lockup periods. Many private-equity firms also specialize in secondary funds.
Avoid Duplicating Risk
When investing in commercial real-estate debt, Chaloff says it’s important to avoid overlapping risk profiles with other portfolio assets. The two biggest risks to commercial real estate are interest rates and recession. Investors need to review how much of their portfolio faces those risks already and then size their allocation appropriately to avoid duplication, keep a diversified portfolio, and maximize returns.
The “low-likelihood” scenarios that would challenge the asset class are a recession stretching beyond “brief and shallow” and a continued interest rate pickup rising to the mid-sixes, Chaloff says. Instead, he expects a period where the market will muddle through peak interest rates.
“Each time an investor makes a new commitment to a fund is the right time to review your overall portfolio,” he says. If investors aren’t making new commitments, he adds they should review each time a fund in their portfolio offers liquidity to existing investors.
There are a lot of factors that can hurt your credit score, including late payments, a high credit utilization ratio and numerous credit inquiries. A bad credit score can keep you from buying a house, being approved for a loan or even getting hired for certain jobs. AMB Credit Consultants might be able to help if you’ve found yourself saddled with a poor credit score. Read on for our full review.
Offers discounts in credit repair services for couples
The best credit repair companies can help create a plan of action that’s tailor-made for you and your needs. If both you and your partner are struggling with poor credit history, AMB Credit Consultants might be worth considering.
Not only does the company take a personalized approach to credit repair, but it offers a discount for couples who are seeking to repair their credit and improve their financial future. Here’s how AMB Credit Consultants might be able to help both you and your partner.
AMB Credit Consultants credit repair pros and cons
Pros
- Discount for couples
- Great customer reviews
- Personalized plans
Cons
- Requires credit card for consultation
- Requires enrollment in third-party credit monitoring, which is an additional fee
- Six- to nine-month commitment
Pros explained
Discount for couples
AMB Credit Consultants charge an initial fee of $149 and a subsequent monthly fee of $99 for individuals who wish to sign up for its program. However, should you choose to enroll as a couple, you can pay an initial fee of $198 and a subsequent monthly fee of $198, saving $100 off the initial fee.
Great customer reviews
AMB Credit Consultants has very high customer satisfaction ratings on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and other customer review websites. Many of the AMB Credit Consultants reviews highlight great customer service experiences, fast improvement on their credit reports and knowledgeable staff that helped them to better understand their credit history and how to avoid repeating past credit blunders.
Personalized plans
AMB Credit Consultants creates personalized “Plan of Action Reports” tailored to each individual customer’s needs.
After your initial consultation, your credit consultant will create a personalized report detailing anything inaccurate or outdated that could be challenged or stricken from your report.
Then, your consultant will act as your advocate in having these items amended or removed. Your plan of action is ongoing, with the company offering unlimited disputes and credit education to members as part of its debt management plans.
Cons explained
Requires credit card for consultation
Most people would probably prefer to get more information about a company or a program before handing over sensitive data such as their credit card or Social Security number. For this reason, many companies offer free consultations to prospective customers who want to learn more about a program.
AMB Credit Consultants requires a lot of information upfront. Not only must you fill out a form that asks you for your address and Social Security number, but you must also provide a credit card before you can receive a consultation.
Mandatory credit monitoring is an additional fee
AMB Credit Consultants requires that you sign up for credit monitoring before you even apply for a consultation, and dictates that it must be through its preferred credit monitoring website, IdentityIQ. At $24.99 a month, IdentityIQ is an additional expense on top of the already fairly pricey monthly membership with AMB Credit Consultants.
Additionally, customers are discouraged from using other credit monitoring websites including AnnualCreditReport.com, a widely recognized (and government-sponsored) provider of free credit reports.
Six- to nine-month commitment
AMB Credit Consultants requires a six -to nine-month commitment at signup. Our team attempted to reach the company but both listed phone numbers were disconnected as of this writing, so further details remain unclear.
AMB Credit Consultants credit repair plans
AMB Credit Consultants offers credit repair plans for both individuals and couples. Here’s more information about what you can expect from both. For an individual, this plan costs $99 per month, with an initial cost of $149 for enrollment.
AMB Credit Empowerment — Individual
The AMB Credit Empowerment individual plan consists of four steps:
- Advise: After filling out your information on the website and scheduling a consultation, one of the company’s consultants will talk to you to get a sense of your financial situation and any discrepancies or issues that you’d like to see remedied. You’ll also be able to discuss your financial and credit goals.
- Audit: After you’ve enrolled in the program, your consultant will analyze your credit report to determine the factors that are impacting your credit score. Your consultant will then create a plan of action suited to your individual needs.
- Awareness: Your consultant will help explain the intricacies of the credit system and educate you on ways you can improve your credit going forward.
- Action: The AMB Team will challenge any errors or outdated information on your credit report.
AMB Credit Empowerment — Couple
This plan offers the same four-step plan as the individual option. You and your partner will pay an initial cost of $198 — which is cheaper than if the two of you were to enroll separately on individual plans — in addition to a $198 monthly fee.
AMB Credit Consultants pricing
The service offered by AMB Credit Consultants isn’t exactly cheap, especially when you factor in that you’ll also have to sign up for the IdentityIQ credit monitoring program, which is $24.99 per month. So for an individual, you’ll be paying $149 upfront, plus an additional $123.99 per month when you factor in the cost of ongoing credit monitoring.
AMB Credit Consultants accessibility
Availability
According to their website, AMB Credit Consultants services are offered nationwide.
Contact information
AMB Credit Consultants has a toll-free contact number at 800-720-0992; its customer service hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Central time. However, our team was unable to reach the company via this number as of this writing.
The company also has an email form on its website, in addition to offering after-hours help for customers by appointment.
User experience
Much of the information and educational materials advertised on the AMB Credit Consultants website seems to only be accessible to its current customers. While the website features a blog, the articles seem to be more about general financial and budgeting advice rather than tips on credit improvement.
AMB Credit Consultants credit repair customer satisfaction
The AMB Credit Consultants reviews on the BBB website are overwhelmingly positive, scoring a 4.73 out of a possible 5. Many reviews have customers praising not only AMB Credit Consultants as a company but Johnson-Hall herself for taking a hands-on approach with cases.
AMB Credit Consultants FAQ
How long does it take to repair credit with AMB Credit Consultants?
The company doesn’t provide a timeline of how long one can expect the process of credit repair through AMB Credit Consultants to take. However, the process of improving your credit doesn’t happen overnight, so it’s likely that it will take a few weeks or months to determine if the service can help you obtain significant changes to your scores with the major credit bureaus.
How does credit repair work?
While every credit repair company offers different service packages, these typically involve going through your credit history to find erroneously reported or outdated information. Note, however, that no one can eliminate correctly reported negative items from your credit history.
Are credit repair companies worth it?
It depends. You can repair bad credit yourself if you have the time and are willing to dispute items with the bureaus and/or creditors yourself. However, the best credit repair companies often employ experts in credit matters and disputes, which could make the process much easier and quicker.
Is AMB Credit Consultants legit?
While the company isn’t as well-established as some of its competitors, it garners largely positive customer reviews and testimonials.
How we evaluated AMB Credit Consultants
Here are some factors we considered when evaluating AMB Credit Consultants:
- Plans offered: We looked at the plans offered by AMB Credit Consultants, including prices.
- Accessibility: We researched the accessibility of the company’s products, including availability and the overall user experience.
- Customer satisfaction: We read through AMB Credit Consultants reviews to get a sense of how the company’s customers felt about their experience.
Summary of Money’s AMB Credit Consultants review
AMB Credit Consultants offers a personalized approach to fixing your credit and discounts in the initial fee for couples. It also has great customer ratings on the Better Business Bureau portal.
However, there are certainly some drawbacks. You have to provide your credit card information before you could get a free consultation, and the initial six- to nine-month commitment can be a big step for potential customers, especially considering that it is more expensive than other companies that offer the same services.
Published: Sept. 19, 2023 at 1:31 a.m. ET
By Adria Calatayud
Banco Santander said it is consolidating its retail-and-commercial and consumer activities in all its markets under two new global businesses, a move aimed at aligning these operations with the model of the rest of the group.
The Spanish bank said late Monday that its retail-and-commercial and consumer operations will be…
By Adria Calatayud
Banco Santander said it is consolidating its retail-and-commercial and consumer activities in all its markets under two new global businesses, a move aimed at aligning these operations with the model of the rest of the group.
The Spanish bank said late Monday that its retail-and-commercial and consumer operations will be housed under two new global businesses–retail and commercial and digital consumer bank. These new business segments add to the group’s payments, corporate-and-investment banking, and wealth management-and-insurance businesses.
Santander said these five areas will become its primary reporting segments from January 2024. Country and region-specific data will become secondary segments in the bank’s reporting going forward, it said.
Daniel Barriuso will head Santander’s retail-and-commercial business, which combines all its retail and business banking globally, while Jose Luis de Mora will lead the digital consumer bank that houses all the group’s consumer-finance activities worldwide, Santander said.
The bank said its financial targets outlined in February remain unchanged.
Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@dowjones.com
When Ruffer invested around $600m into bitcoin at the end of 2020, pension funds took notice and began calling their investment consultants.
The UK asset manager’s bet on the fledgling asset class coincided with a sharp rise in bitcoin’s price, fuelled in part by a growing number of retail investors piling in during Covid lockdowns.
By the time Ruffer sold its position five months later, bitcoin’s price had more than doubled and it had netted a $1.1bn profit.
Three years on and the sector has suffered the so-called crypto winter as well as seen the high-profile collapse of crypto exchange FTX in November 2022. This year, US regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission have taken two other large exchanges to court — Coinbase and Binance.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, pension funds have now gone cold on the idea of allocating money to crypto.
“There has been a radio silence. We have stopped getting the calls,” said Matthew Scott, a senior strategic investment research specialist at investment consultancy Mercer.
“There was a flurry of activity in 2021 and I was being rolled out for client meetings. They were very interested. Almost all the meetings were about people wanting to know about crypto.”
“I haven’t heard of any pension schemes interested in bitcoin,” said John Ralfe, an independent consultant and pensions expert. “I can’t believe that people are queueing round the block.”
Despite UK pension funds’ waning interest in cryptocurrencies, some surveys continue to point to increased institutional appetite.
London-based hedge fund Nickel Digital Asset Management published research in July showing 87% of institutional investors and wealth managers believe investment in crypto will be attractive in the year ahead; 92% believe it will become attractive over the next five years.
But investment consultants say their institutional clients — mainly traditional pension funds worth tens of billions of pounds — show no sign of making a play for bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
“I’m not aware of any UK pension fund clients directly investing in crypto or even asking about it,” said Alasdair MacDonald, chief investment officer for WTW’s UK investment advisory business.
However, MacDonald said he wouldn’t rule out pension funds having “some immaterial indirect exposure to crypto” via investment in hedge funds or venture capital investments in crypto businesses.
Mercer’s Scott said pension funds had grown sceptical over crypto and some of its use cases.
“Look at ChatGPT: when it came out, shortly afterwards it was on everyone’s computers. Thirteen years in, we are still not clear what the use case is for crypto, other than it being a casino,” said Scott.
They are also taking their ESG responsibilities seriously, so bitcoin’s poor green credentials are a turn-off.
According to Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, the cryptocurrency is responsible for the production of more than 62 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. That gives it a carbon footprint comparable to that of Belarus.
“The sheer quantity of energy that is used to maintain bitcoin is a huge problem for a lot of institutions,” said Scott.
“You have an asset that is incredibly carbon intensive, practically unregulated and there’s a huge amount of fraud — it is not screaming institutions.”
To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email David Ricketts
Published: Aug. 30, 2023 at 5:11 a.m. ET
By Kosaku Narioka
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China said Wednesday that first-half net profit rose 1.2% from a year earlier, thanks partly to gains from bond investments.
The Chinese bank said net profit rose to 170.11 billion yuan ($23.36 billion) for the six months ended June 30 from CNY168.11 billion a year earlier. That missed the…
By Kosaku Narioka
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China said Wednesday that first-half net profit rose 1.2% from a year earlier, thanks partly to gains from bond investments.
The Chinese bank said net profit rose to 170.11 billion yuan ($23.36 billion) for the six months ended June 30 from CNY168.11 billion a year earlier. That missed the estimate of CNY176.55 billion from a poll of analysts by Visible Alpha.
First-half net trading income more than doubled to CNY9.87 billion from CNY4.635 billion a year earlier, mainly due to an increase in bond investment income. Net gains on financial investments also climbed 76% to CNY12.66 billion, mainly as a result of higher valuation of bonds and funds. Income tax expense decreased from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, net interest income decreased 3.9% from a year earlier to CNY336.99 billion, as loan interest rates in the country have fallen in recent quarters. Net fee and commission income also dropped 3.4% to CNY73.465 billion.
First-half impairment losses on assets fell 8.7% from a year earlier to CNY122.255 billion. Its non-performing loan ratio stood at 1.36% at the end of June, compared with 1.38% at the end of December.
Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com
Investment banks are set to slash entry-level recruitment next year as high-profile job cuts have hit the sector, yet dealmaking roles at top institutions attracted close to a million graduate applications.
Top investment banks plan to reduce graduate recruitment numbers by 10% next year, according to research firm High Fliers, despite many firms increasing entry-level hiring in 2023 amid a deal drought that has seen thousands of jobs cut.
Investment banking graduate jobs are notoriously hard-fought for, with top Wall Street and European firms hiring a tiny fraction among the huge numbers that vie for roles offering starting salaries of £70,000 in London.
JPMorgan received 198,584 applications for its graduate programme globally this year, which is an increase of 30%. This was for 5,469 positions, or a success rate of less than 3%. Within its investment bank, it had 11,871 graduates competing for 298 full-time positions.
READ ‘Should I feel sorry for them? No’ — Bankers scoff at Goldman Sachs juniors’ stinging survey
The top US investment bank hired 98 graduates for its investment banking team in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2023, which was an increase of 4% on the prior year, and received 7,013 applications — up by 32%. It also filled entry-level roles through summer internship conversions.
Morgan Stanley’s summer internship applications in Emea edged up 3% to 42,412 this year for 900 roles, which was an increase from 816 in 2022. However, it hired 309 full-time graduates in the region in 2023, down from 326 a year earlier. The US bank took on 333 summer analysts and associates this year.
Citigroup got more than 60,000 applications for around 950 intern and full-time recruits across its businesses in Emea, while Bank of America saw 300,000 graduates compete for 2,600 roles globally this year, according to a person familiar with the matter.
At Goldman, 2,900 interns joined globally, 360 of which were in Emea. Deutsche Bank hired 1,137 graduates in 2023, up from about 900 last year, while HSBC took on 230 students in its global banking and markets unit.
Despite the uptick at leading investment banks, across the sector there are signs that the appeal of the job is waning among graduates. According to High Fliers data, the number of graduates applying to investment banking graduate roles declined 13% this year overall.
“During the pandemic, investment banking was one of the few sectors to maintain its graduate recruitment,” said Martin Birchall, managing director at High Fliers. “But over the past 12 months headlines about job cuts in the City mean that more university graduates are looking to other areas for their first job, especially in law and consulting, both of which have seen significant salary rises over the last two years.”
READ Why $100,000 pay still isn’t enough for junior bankers: ‘90% of my team is gone’
Investment banks have rolled out their deepest job cuts since the 2008 financial crisis after a deal drought forced fees down 26% this year following a difficult 2022. Goldman Sachs cut 3,200 jobs in January and followed them with another 125 managing director redundancies in June. Morgan Stanley and Citigroup have also made deep cuts that have hit their dealmaking teams.
Meanwhile, junior jobs in particular have come under more scrutiny. Analysts and associates at investment banks work long hours often on relatively mundane tasks such as updating PowerPoint presentations for clients and pulling numbers for deals.
A leaked document by a group of Goldman Sachs analysts in 2021 outlining brutal 100-hour weeks amid an unprecedented deal boom had a snowball effect. Analysts rebelled against working conditions, quit in droves and banks hiked salaries by 30-40% in the space of a year to stem the exodus.
However, this year juniors have been included in some rounds of job cuts.
Logan Naidu, chief executive of recruiters Dartmouth Partners which works on graduate roles, said that investment banking applications have “declined modestly” in recent years as top students pursue roles in technology and private equity.
“It is still hugely competitive and my feeling is that this year it will get more competitive as technology and private equity firms have also pulled back hiring,” he said. “Any industry paying such high salaries inevitably attracts a lot of top graduates.”
While entry-level roles remain intensely competitive, Naidu said that students often do not view investment banking as a long-term career.
“Some go in with a view to a steep two- to three-year learning curve before moving on,” he said. “No doubt long-term banking has lost some of its lustre.”
For more on investment banking, sign up to FN’s newsletter here
To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email Paul Clarke