UPTIQ is thrilled to welcome Jesse Lewis to our team as the new Senior Vice President of Client Engagement & Partnerships. With over two decades of experience in the wealth management industry, Jesse brings unparalleled knowledge and expertise, particularly in lending and credit management. Throughout his career, Jesse played an instrumental part in expanding his past company’s reach across the wealth management industry. In his new role at UPTIQ, he will leverage his passion for sharing his expertise and insights to make lending solutions more accessible across the wealth industry as we embark on our future growth and expansion endeavors.
Check out our sit-down with Jesse, where our Chief Product and Marketing Officer, Taylor Adkins, dives deeper into Jesse’s lending space experience and explores his thoughts on how the enablement of artificial intelligence (AI) will create more opportunities for financial advisors to deliver a truly holistic approach to their clients.
Taylor: What drew you into the lending space?
Jesse: I was introduced to lending at BNY Mellon/ Pershing.We hosted a meeting where we had a representative talk about other solutions available beyond just investing products that wealth managers also had access to. When the lending expert gave his background and provided real-world examples of the power of lending, every hand in the room went up. Every advisor was engaged, asking a million questions. I had this “aha!” moment myself: advisors understand the investing side of the business, but lending isa whole different side of the industry. So, from there, I decided to focus my career on the lending side.
Taylor: How does a financial advisor work with someone in the lending space?
Jesse: Traditionally, when an advisor thinks about wealth management, they think mainly of financial planning, investment management, perhaps insurance, maybe estate planning. Generally, financial advisors don’t acknowledge the right-hand side of the balance sheet. It's more of a reactive approach to the client relationship. As a result, advisors typically don't have strong partnerships or relationships on the lending side of it.
Part of my career, historically, has been to be a resource for financial advisors when they need to turn to somebody for lending. They have significant opportunities where clients have a structured approach to their investment portfolios. Financial advisors typically don't want to disrupt the portfolio, but there are times when a client needs liquidity. In this instance, they would call someone like me, and I’d guide them through different solutions. This approach is about working hand-in-hand with an advisor, driving a lot of that awareness and education.
Taylor: What are some constant roadblocks you're hearing from advisors on the lending side of business?
Jesse: Some of the challenges financial advisors run into is that while they're all very good at the investment side, they miss out on providing a truly holistic experience their clients ask for. Fast forward to today, and many financial advisors need to have experience with financial planning, whether it’s goals or cash-flow-based.What's happening now is that those types of plans require solutions beyond just investing. Historically, some roadblocks, especially with an independent financial advisor, have been that they’re not a specialist and they don’t have that bank standing behind them. Financial advisors generally are not experienced in the lending space. When you look at the opportunity with UPTIQ here, it boils down to opening up those opportunities and helping make lending natural to an advisor's practice.
Taylor: Where do you see the future of the lending industry?
Jesse: Some of the technology we all have access to can sometimes be very complex and cumbersome. UPTIQ offers something different.As I mentioned, financial advisors traditionally aren't specialists in the lending space, so with UPTIQ’s technology-guided approach to lending, advisors can get it right and deliver a truly holistic experience for their clients, as many demand so today. Using UPTIQ, advisors can give details about their client’s unique situations, and the system helps guide the client or the advisor to the best solution that meets their needs. Additionally, other solutions on the platform are available for advisors to tap into at their discretion, all augmented by an AI-enabled guided process. This approach helps makes an advisor a truly holistic partner to their clients.
Taylor: What are your thoughts on advisors utilizing artificial intelligence (AI)?
Jesse: AI will not replace anything, but it can certainly provide support, whether you're in wealth management or elsewhere. Really what AI is doing is helping the advisor provide a more holistic service, transforming the way they conduct business. When I look at the AI inside of UPTIQ, it's a guide. There's functionality that will be built so the advisor can ask questions.
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To learn more about Jesse Lewis, UPTIQ, and the rest of the team, please visit UPTIQ.ai.
UPTIQ gives financial advisors the ability to provide liquidity without disrupting their clients' investment strategies by connecting their clients to a network of lenders who can fund any liquidity need or risk profile/. We help advisors protect their AUM, grow their clients’ wealth, and generate additional income. The UPTIQ Advisor Lending platform turns investment experts into fully articulated advisors using data analytics and artificial intelligence to carefully match, curate and fulfill tailored credit solutions for their clients, putting decades of financial expertise at their fingertips.