First Western Financial: Helping Clients Create a Lasting, Positive Legacy Through Successful Wealth Management
In this Spotlight on Community Banks article, we spoke with Scott Wylie, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Western Financial. Scott discusses the evolution of MYFW’s mission and re-enforces its commitment to helping its clients meet their personal, business and philanthropic goals.
First Western Financial, Inc. is a financial holding company headquartered in Denver, Colorado providing a fully integrated suite of wealth management services on a private trust bank platform, including a comprehensive selection of deposit, loan, trust, wealth planning and investment management products and services. First Western Financial offers services through a branded network of boutique private trust bank offices, located in affluent and high-growth markets in 16 locations across Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming and California. First Western Financial has been listed on Nasdaq since 2018 and trades under the symbol “MYFW”.
Why the name First Western, what does it represent?
We created First Western in 2004 to be the first, Western-based, Western-focused private bank and trust company. Given the relatively young economies in the Rocky Mountain region, we believe that our target client, called the Western Wealth Management Client, is typically very different from those in other parts of the country. These clients are usually first-generation wealth creators looking for a partner to help them successfully manage the wealth they've worked so hard to create.
Learn more about the history of First Western Financial
How has your mission evolved over the last few years?
MYFW’s steadfast mission is to be the Best Private Bank for the Western Wealth Management Client. To us, this mission means delivering a sophisticated set of wealth management products and services through our local, boutique private bank and trust offices. Since our inception 18 years ago, MYFW has delivered these products and services through teams of local, trusted advisors, now located in 19 offices across Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona and California.
How important is community involvement for a regional bank? How are you working to better the communities you serve?
Proactive community engagement is a cornerstone of MYFW’s regional banking approach in each of our 19 communities. At MYFW, our community engagement goes beyond that of a typical regional bank because there's an expectation that our local Presidents and their teams get involved. We provide our teams with the time and resources to proactively engage with local non-profits, including financial education and community development organizations. While we support many mission-driven groups, we have realized a significant impact through our longtime engagement with youth development charities like Boys and Girls Clubs and Junior Achievement and financing affordable housing.
At MYFW, we believe that successful wealth management involves creating a lasting, positive legacy. In addition to our non-profit work, MYFW serves our communities by reinvesting in our markets with our lending activities. We are also committed to supporting our clients’ personal, business and philanthropic goals. Because our clients are typically entrepreneurs creating jobs, opportunities for growth and economic development, helping them means that we also support our communities.
Learn more about First Western Financial in the community
What’s been the biggest surprise during your four years as a publicly traded company?
We have been surprised at how many different types of investors follow MYFW. We made a list early on of some of the highest quality, long-term partners we wanted to build into our institutional shareholder base. We have been very fortunate to attract, retain and grow with these targeted names. We have now more than tripled our pre-IPO assets, and with these new partners' support, we’ve sharply increased our earnings and tangible book value per share.
Who is the ideal First Western Financial client? How do you build client loyalty?
MYFW supports a wide range of clients, including early-stage wealth creators and family offices of billionaires, but the relationships where we often have the most impact are with clients with $2-$20mm in liquid net worth and relatively complex personal, family, business and philanthropic goals. Part of what makes our relationships with these clients so successful is our proprietary ConnectView™ approach that enables us to partner with our clients to provide holistic, integrated wealth management solutions.
We never use the word customer because it sounds very transactional to us. Instead, we use the word client because it conveys a spirit of partnership and service (hence the ticker of MYFW). At First Western, we build client loyalty by creating deep relationships and taking the time to understand our clients’ goals and needs. Sometimes, clients come to us asking for a solution to an unexpected problem outside their control. Other times, they rely on us to identify and solve problems they didn't even know they had. Either way, we take time to know and understand our clients and provide quality, tailored solutions that meet their needs. In addition to our client-centered focus, our local and central teams have a wealth of knowledge and expertise. Our proprietary technology, MYFW toolkit and ConnectView™ approach enable us to create integrated, comprehensive wealth management solutions that truly support our clients.
Connect with MYFW:
About Scott Wylie:
Scott Wylie has served as the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Company and First Western Trust Bank since founding the Company in 2002. Mr. Wylie served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Northern Trust Bank of Colorado from 1998 to 2002 after selling his prior institution, Trust Bank of Colorado, to Northern Trust in 1998. He previously led the acquisition in 1994 of Equitable Bankshares of Colorado, a Denver-based bank holding company with two subsidiary banks now known as Colorado Business Bank. His first bank, Universal Trust, started as a subsidiary of the First Boston Corporation. He organized a 1998 management buyout of that bank, which he renamed The Bank and Trust of Puerto Rico. He also led the buyout of a software company, American Fundware, which, as Chairman, he sold at a significant premium to Intuit in 2001. Mr. Wylie is involved in an array of community organizations, and he currently serves on the boards of the Denver Convention Center Hotel Authority, Colorado Succeeds, Roundup River Ranch and the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. Mr. Wylie earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, a Master of Arts in Economic Development from the School of International Service at American University, and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Graduate School of Business.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
Michael Spector
Nasdaq
Michael is responsible for managing relationships with Nasdaq listed companies in the South Central and South Western U.S.
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