Zions Direct offers a unique opportunity for individual investors to participate in auctions for various securities. Learn about the advantages of the auction platform in this interview with David Hemingway, Senior Investment Officer for Zions Bancorporation and Chairman of the Board for Zions Direct.

Over the coming months, Zions Bank Retirement Resources along with Zions Direct and Zions Investment Services Group will be hosting a series of seminars on a variety of retirement subjects.

The next seminar will be held March 10 at noon at Zions Bank’s Moab Office (330 S. Main Street) where Robert Dellenbach, vice president of Retirement Resources, and David Warne, senior vice president of Zions Direct, will discuss “Retirement Essentials” and “What Zions Direct Can Do for You.” Call 435-259-5961 for more details.

Next, a breakfast will be held March 12 at 7:30 a.m. at Zions Bank’s Cedar City Office (3 S. Main), followed by a noon luncheon that day at the St. George Holiday Inn (850 S Bluff St.). W. David Hemingway, chairman of the Board of Zions Direct will be representing Zions Direct in these meetings. Call 435-586-2448 (Cedar City) or 435-634-5125 (St. George) for any questions about these seminars.

Mr. Dellenbach and Mr. Hemingway will also be speaking at a noon luncheon March 19 at Corbin’s Restaurant in Layton (748 Heritage Park Blvd.). Please call 801-626-2874 for details.

On March 31, Mr. Hemingway will be joined by Scott Burnett, director of Fixed-Income Strategies in the Zions Investment Services Group, who will be speaking on “Finding a Safe Harbor in Today’s Markets” at a noon luncheon in the Founders Room on the 18th Floor of the Zions Bank Building at 1 South Main in Salt Lake City (call 801-844-7980 for details).

In Idaho, these seminars will begin in Boise (April 29), followed by Pocatello (May 11) and Idaho Falls (May 12). More details will be forthcoming. For all events, seating is limited.

Zions Bank offers brokerage services through Zions Direct, which is a member of FINRA/SIPC and a non-bank subsidiary of Zions Bank. Zions Bank offers wealth management services through Contango Capital Advisors, Inc., which operates as Zions Investment Services Group in Utah and Idaho. Contango Capital Advisors is a registered investment adviser and a non-bank affiliate of Zions Bank and a non-bank subsidiary of Zions Bancorporation.

Investment products and services offered through Zions Direct and Contango Capital Advisors are NOT insured by the FDIC or any federal or state governmental agency, are NOT deposits or other obligations of, or guaranteed by, Zions Bancorporation or its affiliates, and MAY be subject to investment risks, including the possible loss of principal value or amount invested.

Visit the article to read more.

On April 28, Zions Direct closed its first municipal bond offering on the auctions platform. At its close, participants had bid on nearly nine times the offered amount on the Manatee County, Florida bond with the highest bid asking for a premium price of more than 1½ % above the coupon. Because of the benefits of the modified Dutch auction model, all winning bids got a better price than the coupon amount as each walked away a yield greater than 4.251% on these seven-year municipal bonds.

For those taking those possible tax advantages on this bond, if we assume a 35% tax bracket, it would take a yield of 6.53% on a taxable security in order to get a similar after-tax equivalent yield.

As of this writing, Zions has added two more municipal bond offerings to its auctions platform, giving credence to the statement given last week by Chris VanDam of Zions Direct when he mentioned, “It is expected that municipal bond auctions will be an ongoing and welcome addition to our auction platform.”

This offer has showcased Zions’ direct-to-consumer system, which has given each of these self-directed investors access to security offerings, in which they not only influence the price but also avoid the typical intermediate steps and commissions. It is also a welcome alternative in this current economic climate; Zions Direct Chairman David Hemingway noted, “With the addition of municipal bonds on Zions Direct’s auction platform, we are providing individual investors another element of control in a volatile market.”

In addition, two days later, Zions closed on the initial offering of Zions Bancorporation Senior Notes. Although the auctioned amount was set at $500,000, bidders took advantage of the “Buy Today” option in this auction and in total walked away with nearly $1,000,000 in securities. This first Senior Note offering in more than six months was well received—the auction had seventy-two bidders supplying nearly of one-hundred bids with twenty-two buyers using the Buy Today method. And, like the first Senior Note Auction last March, bidders actually determined that they were willing to buy these securities at a premium price above the offered 5.5% coupon.

All evidence points the continuing success of this auction-based method to selling and pricing securities—an innovative customer-centric approach that is particularly refreshing during this time of economic instability.

*Artwork from Amanda Woodward under Creative Commons license at Flickr.com.

Zions Direct Chairman W. David Hemingway was featured in a recent Wall Street Journal article examining the Zions Direct auction platform and the recent interest by investors towards certificates of deposits. The article highlighted the engaging and participatory nature of auctions and the safety of CDs during this time of volatility in the marketplace.

Visit the article to read more.

*Artwork from Amanda Woodward under Creative Commons license at Flickr.com.

Zions Direct announces its first auction of secondary market municipal bonds. The auction will begin Monday, April 20, and will run for eight days. This innovative approach to selling municipal bonds allows retail and institutional investors to set the yield through a competitive bidding process. This is in contrast to the typical approach in which a broker/dealer sets the offering yield.

David Hemingway, Chairman of Zions Direct, remarked, “With the addition of municipal bonds on Zions Direct’s auction platform, we are providing individual investors another element of control in a volatile market. Our simple, transparent and affordable access to bonds allows our customers to easily review and purchase bonds without the traditional commissions associated with brokers and third party financial advisors.”

In this first auction, Zions will sell $45,000 face value of Manatee County, Florida Public Utilities Revenue Improvement bonds using an auction process similar to the US Treasury’s. An advantage to the Zions Direct platform is that bidders are able to see the market clearing price and receive instant feedback telling them if they are in a winning position (all winning bidders will pay the market clearing price).

In order to participate in this auction, bidders must have a Zions Direct account.

It is expected that municipal bond auctions will be an ongoing and welcome addition to our auction platform. To learn more about some of the unique features of municipal bonds, including possible tax advantages, please check out our previously posted article.

Zions Direct has conducted over 600 auctions during a three-year period. To view current municipal and other auctions, go to auctions.zionsdirect.com.

Potential investors should check the auction site for more information regarding these bonds before making an investment decision.

*Artwork from felixe under Creative Commons license at Flickr.com.

WELCOME TO THINK |

It turns out that this Internet thing is good for more than just sending emails, investing, and viewing weird home videos. And we know that we need to do better at using it to communicate with you.

Armed with that knowledge, we are starting a blog. Those of you in the know understand what a blog is—or at least you have an idea of a few out there—see the value in creating a communication tool where we can talk to you and you can talk to us. But to those who do not know, we’ll explain what it means for Zions and what our purpose will be.

Zions has some talented and capable people that work in our investment group. Like created a model for innovation, quoted in Barrons and BusinessWeek, and Yale Law School graduate intelligent.*

So we thought we ought to share with you their insights about areas of the financial world that we focus on: wealth management, fixed income, municipal bonds, and so on. Read it, share it with others, comment—there’s no sales pitch here, just a conversation that we have started between all of you and all of us. If you want to hear more about something, let us know. If you don’t like something, speak up.

We hope you enjoy this more intimate glance into our world.

*Contango Capital Advisors is a subsidiary of Zions Bancorporation. KNN Public Finance is a division of Zions First National Bank. Both Contango Capital Advisors and KNN Public Finance are affiliates of Zions Direct.

Artwork created by roctopus at Flickr.com.