Deals & People March 4, 2014

BOK Financial To Purchase MBM Advisors

BOK Financial Corporation says it has entered into an agreement to acquire MBM Advisors, a SEC-registered investment advisory firm specializing in retirement and pension plan services.
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BOK Financial says the acquisition of MBM Advisors, based in Houston, will increase its retirement plan and individual assets under management by about $1.25 billion. Besides adding to BOK Financial’s retirement services capabilities, the deal also expands the BOK’s individual wealth management business, the firm says. Terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1966, MBM Advisors specializes in managing all aspects of clients’ employee retirement and pension plans, including providing investment advisory services as an ERISA 3(38) fiduciary. The services also typically cover plan design, plan compliance, recordkeeping and actuarial functions. MBM Advisors has clients in 15 states, including those in which BOK Financial already has a full service banking presence.

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BOK Financial has been in the retirement plan business for nearly 60 years, specializing in providing guidance to employers on plan design, plan administration, compliance, and investment oversight. The corporation currently serves about 430 retirement plans with $5.6 billion in assets and 70,000 plan participants. MBM Advisors adds 222 plans, $1.1 billion in plan assets and 16,000 plan participants.

BOK Financial says the deal with MBM represents its third wealth management acquisition in the past 18 months. The firm previously acquired the Denver-based registered investment adviser, The Milestone Group, in late 2012 and recently announced the completion of its acquisition of Kansas-based trust and asset management company, GTRUST Financial Corporation.

 “BOK Financial is highly motivated to continue expanding our geographic and product reach in the wealth management space,” says Scott Grauer, executive vice president for wealth management at BOK Financial. “This transaction fits with our strategy to acquire companies that have built a differentiated business model and a strong base of clients within our footprint.”

Grauer says his firm will also be able to grow its turnkey approach to retirement plan support services for small and mid-sized businesses, while also strengthening the wealth management team in the Houston market. He says that the current market environment is especially positive for expanding retirement services, considering the generation of aging Baby Boomers that are already in or rapidly approaching retirement. That, coupled with the continued pressures on businesses to provide retirement benefits within a constantly changing regulatory environment, mean the one-source services MBM Advisors brings to BOK Financial will be highly valuable, he says.

JoAnn Schaub, senior vice president for institutional wealth at BOK Financial, says the staff specialization at MBM Advisors was a key selling point in the deal.

“MBM Advisors brings to BOK Financial extremely experienced and well-respected professionals who share our commitment for providing high-touch, responsive retirement plan services in a consultative manner,” Schaub says. “MBM’s clients will find BOK Financial’s approach to be very familiar and consistent with that of MBM Advisors, but with the added benefits of a full service wealth management and banking organization.”

Clients of MBM Advisors will continue to work with their current dedicated team, and will now have access to the full range of products and services provided by BOK Financial, including trustee services, institutional asset custody, mineral and real property management, private wealth management, rollover assistance, estate planning and corporate banking, among other services.

The staff at MBM Advisors will work closely with BOK Financial’s local market subsidiary, Bank of Texas, to maximize client, technology and employee resources. MBM Advisors will also maintain their investment relationship with Charles Schwab following the acquisition.

BOK Financial has full service banking in Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, through its market bank subsidiary, Bank of Texas, as well as stand-alone wealth management and mortgage offices in Austin, El Paso, and San Antonio.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014. Frederic Dorwart Lawyers served as legal counsel to BOK Financial. Steven Gordon of Lipnick & Gordon served as legal counsel to MBM Advisors. Dan Bass, with Performance Trust Capital Partners, served as financial adviser to MBM Advisors.

For more information, visit www.bokf.com.

Data & Research March 4, 2014

Different Generations, Different Savings Habits

A survey shows Millennials are not quite as committed to saving for the long term compared to their Generation X and Baby Boomer counterparts.
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While Millennials are more likely to be consciously cutting back on expenses, according to the Financial Trade-Offs study by Ameriprise Financial, far fewer Millennials (59%) than Boomers (75%) admit they have a monthly savings plan, and only 57% of Millennials with access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan are contributing enough to take full advantage of their employer’s match.

Four in five (81%) Boomers and 75% of Gen Xers consider themselves to be more of a saver than a spender, compared to 65% of Millennials. This perspective is supported by the fact that 45% of Boomers and 38% of Gen Xers are maxing out their 401(k) contributions and more than two-thirds of respondents from these generations say they have a monthly savings plan.

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Ameriprise says it’s possible younger Americans are anticipating financial hurdles down the road; more than two-thirds (69%) say they have either reduced their contributions to their employer-sponsored plan or would consider doing so in the future. One in four (27%) Millennials hopes to buy a vacation home someday, and two in five (40%) would like to fund private K-12 education for their children.

Findings show that Millennials are more likely than both Boomers and Gen Xers to be consciously cutting back on all 18 discretionary expense categories listed in the study. This includes things like electronics (69% of Millennials say they’ve cut back on this compared to 57% of Gen Xers and 45% of Boomers) and car payments (32% of Millennials have scaled these back—more than any other generation surveyed).

Boomers and Gen Xers were less likely than Millennials to be scaling back their purchases in every expense category indicated in the survey. For example, 79% of Millennials have cut back on eating out – the most popular (and arguably the easiest) expense that Americans can spend less on. However, fewer Boomers (51%) and Gen Xers (70%) admit they’ve consciously made an effort to spend less in this area.

Despite making prudent trade-off choices, the study reveals that younger Americans are still likely to take on a large amount of debt while trying to balance other financial goals. Of those who own a car, 76% feel their car payments have been a stretch (significantly more than older Americans who are making payments on an auto loan). A similar proportion (78%) says their credit card or other miscellaneous bills has made them feel stretched financially.

The Financial Trade-Offs study was created by Ameriprise Financial utilizing survey responses from 3,002 employed Americans with access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan (or with a spouse that has access to an employer-sponsored plan) ages 25 to 67 who are primary financial decision makers or share in financial decisions in their household. All respondents ages 25 to 49 have investable assets of at least $25,000, while those older than 50 have at least $250,000 (including employer retirement plans, but not real estate). The study was conducted via online interviews by Koski Research from November 25 to December 16, 2013.

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