Dynamic Wealth Management: First Midwest Bank Forms Wealth Management Divisio...

Dynamic Wealth Management: First Midwest Bank Forms Wealth Management Divisio...: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/first-midwest-bank-forms-wealth-management-division-2012-04-16 ITASCA, IL, Apr 16, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via ...

First Midwest Bank Forms Wealth Management Division

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/first-midwest-bank-forms-wealth-management-division-2012-04-16

ITASCA, IL, Apr 16, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- First Midwest Bank today announced that it has formed a new Wealth Management Division as part of the bank's strategic organizational realignment. Leading the newly formed Wealth Management Division will be Robert P. Diedrich, a thirty-two year veteran of First Midwest, who previously headed the bank's trust division. The new division will provide fiduciary, investment and private banking services to individual, corporate and governmental clients throughout the communities and diverse markets served by First Midwest.

First Midwest, through its Wealth Management Division, manages more than $5 billion in clients' assets making it the fourth largest bank operated trust business in Illinois. Its primary objective is to manage, grow and preserve the wealth of all clients.

"Our new Wealth Management Division draws together trust, retail investment and private banking into one unit that will enable us to broaden our existing client relationships while at the same time enhancing our ability to attract new clients and grow this important segment of our business," stated Mark Sander, President and Chief Operating Officer of First Midwest Bank. Adding, "We have an advantage over many other types of financial institutions and providers of these services as we have conducted this business in our communities for decades and have built strong client relationships and we are well known and trusted."

About First Midwest

First Midwest Bank, the wholly owned subsidiary of Itasca-based First Midwest Bancorp, Inc. FMBI +0.28% is the premier relationship-based banking franchise in the dynamic Chicagoland banking market with approximately $8.0 billion in assets. As one of the Chicago metropolitan area's largest independent bank holding companies, First Midwest provides the full range of commercial, retail banking and wealth management services through some 100 offices located in communities in metropolitan Chicago, northwest Indiana, central and western Illinois and eastern Iowa. First Midwest has been recognized by the Chicago Tribune for two straight years as one the top 20 best places to work in Chicago among large employers.

Dynamic Wealth Management: Saudi women expanding wealth management role

Dynamic Wealth Management: Saudi women expanding wealth management role: http://arabnews.com/economy/article614788.ece JEDDAH: A prestigious forum is being held in Jeddah today to help women in the Kingdom to i...

Saudi women expanding wealth management role

http://arabnews.com/economy/article614788.ece

JEDDAH: A prestigious forum is being held in Jeddah today to help women in the Kingdom to improve their understanding of real estate investments, focusing particularly on the British market.

It will take place at Dar Al-Hekma College, a private, non-profit institution of higher education for women.

"This is the first of its kind event in Saudi Arabia. This is an educational initiative to equip Saudi women with a tool to invest in real estate in the UK," said Azeemeh Zaheer, vice president of London-based Gatehouse Bank and a key presenter at the special forum.

Gatehouse, a Shariah-compliant bank, is holding the event in partnership with CBRE.

"Saudi women getting more and more involved in wealth management. This is a big change compared to five to 10 years ago," Azeemeh told Arab News yesterday.

She said: "Women control 22 percent of the $7 trillion assets under management in the Middle East. This makes them an extremely influential investor group."

Azeemeh added: "These women are an inspiring segment of the business and investor landscape. At the forum, we hope to give them a solid understanding of what real estate investment can do for them - to generate and preserve their wealth for the benefit of their family and their own well being. Helping boost their long-term wealth preservation, while observing their specific needs for security and safety in financial products that appeal to their risk appetite."

She said: "As a Shariah-compliant bank, Gatehouse has gained extensive working experience in the GCC and over time we have developed a deep network of relationships with an increasing number of professional women clients."

Azeemeh said Muna AbuSulayman, a leading Saudi figure and Arab media personality in the Middle East, is a keynote speaker at the forum.

Leadership ME was conducted in collaboration with CBRE, a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company that is the world's largest commercial real estate services firm.

Karen Queen, executive director of capital markets at CBRE, another presenter at the forum, said: "We are pleased to be partnering with Gatehouse and Dar Al-Hekma at this inspiring forum for women in Jeddah to discuss real estate fundamentals."

She said: "London and the UK remain an attractive location for real estate investment, and characteristically more than a large percent of potential investors believe that the UK was the best place to spend their money. We acknowledge that women will continue to play an influential role as part of this landscape, and our aim is to empower them with more insights and information to help them access opportunities for wealth creation and preservation."

Queen said the Middle East investors have invested 4.2 billion euros in the UK property market in 2011.

"The half of the total investment in the UK property market came from non-European buyers," she pointed out.

"The major investment came from North America and a large sum came from the Middle East. The major non-European buyers into the UK property market include North America (over 13 billion euros), Asia (5 billion euros), and Australia (0.9 billion euros)," Queen added.

 Azeemeh said Gatehouse Bank provides Shariah-compliant financing for real estate transactions.

She said Gatehouse Bank were actively realizing business in the Saudi, most recently, working with a CMA regulated Shariah-compliant financial services company based in Saudi Arabia, Sidra Capital to launch a 100 million-pound real estate fund called "SURF".

On the UK real estate market, Queen said: "Women are looking for safe havens and the UK is ultimate safe place for commercial real estate. The market is transparent and the tax system is flexible."

Dar Al-Hekma College will be hosting this forum for business students, alumni, and professional working women. The forum will help attendees gain knowledge on ways of improving their understanding of real estate investment fundamentals, and specifically learning how to invest in dynamic markets of London and the UK.

Dynamic Wealth Management: Static vs. Dynamic Investment Policy: Matching As...

Dynamic Wealth Management: Static vs. Dynamic Investment Policy: Matching As...: http://www.schultzcollins.com/files/staticvsdynamic.pdf Many investment policies have guideline asset allocations that target a constant ...

Static vs. Dynamic Investment Policy: Matching Asset Management to Investor Risk Preferences

http://www.schultzcollins.com/files/staticvsdynamic.pdf


Many investment policies have guideline asset allocations that target a constant
proportional weighting between stocks and bonds during both bull and bear markets.  A
“Constant Mix” asset management approach is defensible under a variety of commonly
held assumptions.  Generally, a recommendation to “stay the course” during volatile
market conditions implicitly assumes that investors, will benefit from a Constant Mix
approach.  Investors, however, are not a homogeneous group; and, for some, changes in
wealth may cause changes in risk tolerance.  Wealth management, therefore, may require
dynamic changes in both asset allocation as well as other aspects of investment policy
such as rebalancing, distribution and monitoring & surveillance policies.  
This article outlines several asset management approaches and discusses the importance
of aligning Investment Policy with investor risk preferences.  If the investment policy
ignores this critical “calibration,” there is little hope that the investor will be able to
maintain the policy during recessionary periods.  It presents a follow on simulation study
to illustrate the range of possible portfolio evolutions under various asset management
approaches.  Finally, it focuses on how investment advisors can transition from static
(“blueprint” oriented) to dynamic (“systems engineering” oriented) investment policy by
using advanced simulation tools and by transforming set-in-stone asset management
guidelines into a sequence of periodic decisions regarding the exercise of asset
management options.  

Dynamic Wealth Management: DYNAMIC WEALTH MANAGEMENT, ASSET AND OTHER FINANCI...

Dynamic Wealth Management: DYNAMIC WEALTH MANAGEMENT, ASSET AND OTHER FINANCI...: http://dynamicwealth-management.com/ Starships, warp speed, transporters, phasers. Think  Star Trek  technology is only the stuff of fict...

DYNAMIC WEALTH MANAGEMENT, ASSET AND OTHER FINANCIAL ADVISORY

http://dynamicwealth-management.com/

Starships, warp speed, transporters, phasers. Think Star Trek technology is only the stuff of fiction? Think again.

Dr. Peter Jansen, a PhD graduate of the Cognitive Science Laboratory at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, has developed a scientific measurement device based on the tricorders used by Captain Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy and other space adventurers on the classic TV series that has spawned numerous spin-offs in more than 45 years.

“Star Trek inspired me to be a scientist” said Jansen, who has been formally working on his tricorder prototypes since 2007, but toying with the idea of making a functioning device since he was “a kid in high school.”

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The 29-year-old Jansen’s school days spanned the late 1990s when Star Trek: Voyager was on the air. It featured his favorite tricorder, a model with screens on top and bottom.

The first tricorder appeared on the original show’s initial episode in 1966, when Capt. Kirk swaggered toward audiences with his phaser weapon holstered to his side but a tricorder in his hand. The hand-held devices for data sensing, analysis and recording, have been a part of Star Trek ever since.

But if Jansen, a self-confessed “addicted maker” of things, is successful at developing, testing and bringing his instrument into the public, the tricorder may not be just the stuff of Star Trek prop rooms. It may be used for real.

Jansen said his tricorder can take atmospheric measurements, or ambient temperature, pressure or humidity. It can take electromagnetic measurements to test magnetic fields, and it can make spatial measurements of distance, location, or motion.

Fascinating, as Spock might say.

Jansen thinks of his tricorder as a “general tool” – a kind of “Swiss Army Knife” – with practical uses in building inspection, for instance, where it might help taking temperature and humidity readings or be a distance sensor to measure rooms.

It resembles the device carried by countless “Away Team” members in Star Trek – The Next Generation – his favorite of the Star Trek shows, he notes.

No science fiction

No independent group has yet verified his claims for the device which, he said, is one reason for placing his designs on a public website as an “open source” that technology makers can utilize to test and tinker.

Jansen has posted schematics and designs of his first and second prototypes, the Mark 1 and Mark 2, for anyone to see and build. Jansen expects to have his latest version, the Mark 4, produced for “about $200.”

“Everything you need to build one is on line” at www.tricorderproject.org, said Jansen. He hopes others will follow his lead.

While it may sound like the stuff of science fiction, Jansen isn’t the only one to take notice of just how useful a real functioning tricorder would be – especially as a medical tool.

Telecommunications giant Qualcomm this year launched the “Tricorder X-Prize Contest” with the slogan “Healthcare in the palm of your hand.” Qualcomm hopes to motivate developers with a $US10 million prize to make medical tricorders a reality.

Wanda Moebus of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, who is not affiliated with Jansen or Qualcomm, told Reuters the X-Prize “is really cool,” but cautioned that making a real medical tricorder device “would have to be measured on its safety and effect, like all other medical technologies.”

Jansen said he has been approached by “a couple of teams” about the X Prize, but added that his prototypes are more for science research than medical tools.

Besides, he said he already is on to his next frontier, making a sort of “replicator,” another Star Trek device that will create 3D objects and foods that are dimensional copies of real items.

Jansen’s “replicator” is a 3D printer, which in itself is not really new, but the scientist thinks about it in terms reminiscent of Star Trek’s famous prologue. It’s “like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” Jansen said