Old National Bank premiered its new wealth management division on Wednesday after a 2022 merger with First Midwest effectively doubled the bank’s assets under management. The launch is central to the Evansville, Indiana-based bank’s mission to move to a more customer-centric service model.
1834, a division of Old National Bank, collaborates with 1834 Investment Advisors, an SEC-registered entity, to provide boutique family office services to high net worth individuals and institutions. Another brand launched at the same time, Private Wealth Management, provides advisory services to individuals with less than $2 million of her investable funds.
Led by CEO Chady AlAhmar and former Abbot Downing executives Jim Steiner and Joe Colianni, the new division will provide a range of integrated services, including financial planning. investment management; trust and fiduciary services; Real Estate Planning and Management, Private Banking. Institutional Services; We offer a range of professional services, including succession planning and executive compensation planning.
“We are not creating something new. He explained that the company and private banking have been operated as separate units. Under that model, trust officers typically function as the primary client relationship manager, he said.
“The idea here was to put these pillars aside and make them a shared service,” he said. “Now the client is getting something like a family office that provides private his banking services and can also do brokerage work if needed. Manage funds using RIA infrastructure can.”
1834 CEO Chadi al-Amar
Clients work with designated advisors who have access to an in-house team of experts, including trust officers, financial planners, private bankers and portfolio managers. AlAhmar says the goal is to be seen as a “one-stop-shop” for all financial needs, but without the pressure to move assets to the new platform, the new structure will attract a large amount of his additional AUM is expected.
“Having one adviser, preferably impartial, who understands the bigger picture,” he said. “Clients know we’re moving from a product-based focus to a more holistic, goal-based plan, so I think that’s going to be a big deal.”
They should also notice a greater focus on goals and legacies, he added, noting that typical 1834 customers are multi-family families, often tied to businesses and earning at least $5 million. or have a net worth of $10 million. These tend to focus on the usefulness and maintenance of wealth rather than the creation of it, he said.
“It’s not about the money, it’s about the purpose of the money,” he said. “In my opinion, it’s much more valuable to 1834’s clients.”
Of Old National’s $28 billion in assets under management, 1834 oversees approximately $22 billion. $1 billion is managed by RIAs and $22 billion by traditional trust platforms. The division employs 100 of his professionals in Midwest offices, including recent additions to Nashville, Tennessee and Scottsdale, Arizona.
“This is part of Old National’s strategic growth,” AlAhmar said, adding that 1834 will initially add a satellite office in the southern United States to serve existing clients with seasonal homes in the area, as well as to serve Old National. National already has an established footprint as the sixth largest bank in the region. M&A deals are unlikely in the near term, except on an “opportunistic” basis, especially in areas with existing brick-and-mortar stores in Old National.
Al-Ahmar said the record valuation was the main deterrent, saying: “There is so much room for growth in the existing business book that we are not in a hurry.” “At the same time, let’s say you find an attractive RIA in Scottsdale and get a boost there. Would you go consider it? Absolutely. But it has to make sense.”
The move from products to services comes just over a year after Old National reached a settlement with the Fair Housing Center in Central Indiana in a lawsuit alleging redlining of the bank’s lending practices.