Latest news with #Morales
San Francisco Chronicle
18 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Where is Maria? S.F. woman vanishes after telling relatives ICE was taking her
An immigrant traveling to her early morning work shift at a San Francisco Target store Friday has vanished — after texting a relative that she was being taken by immigration officers — and now her family and police are trying to confirm whether she was truly arrested. But so far, federal immigration officials have not said whether Maria Auxiliadora Jarquin Morales is in their custody — and her family says they have not heard from her since about 4:30 a.m. when she left a series of text messages saying she was being taken. In her texts, Morales, a 33-year-old Nicaraguan woman who is the mother of one daughter, told the relative that she was driving to her job on Geary Street in the Richmond District when she was pulled over and asked for her driver's license, according to the family member who received the voicemails from her. The family member spoke to the Chronicle on condition that her identity not be revealed and in accordance with the Chronicle's policy on anonymous sources. Morales texted that she was scared and sent her location in case anything happened to her, the family member said. Morales told the family member that she was being taken by immigration authorities and told the relative to care for her daughter. Morales also sent a video while in her car and then told her relative where she had left her parked vehicle, which her family later recovered. Her family has not heard from her again, despite dozens of texts and calls to her, and no agencies have confirmed any arrest. Morales was authorized to work in the U.S. and had no criminal record, the family member said. Morales has always been a hard worker and never disappeared — or been out of contact with her family — before. She has been in the United States for three years. The family member reported the woman missing to San Francisco police, who also have not been able to confirm with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other federal agencies that the woman is in their custody, the family member said. San Francisco police confirmed they received a report of a missing person in the Richmond District. ICE did not respond to the Chronicle's request for comment Friday. The disappearance of Morales comes days after lawyers said ICE arrested four immigrants in the San Francisco Immigration Court after attending their court hearings in their asylum cases. Advocates have vowed to fight the arrests, which came after Department of Homeland Security lawyers unsuccessfully moved to have their cases dismissed. Lawyers said the arrests and deportation efforts from the administration of President Donald Trump infringes on the due process of immigrants, circumventing the decisions of immigration judges ruling against the Department of Homeland Security. The woman's family is continuing their search for answers on her whereabouts, including checking hospitals.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
OKCPD arrests robbery suspect, seeking victims
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The Oklahoma City Police Department announced on Friday, 42-year-old Pepe Morales is now in custody facing robbery, drug and weapons-related charges. According to authorities, Morales was arrested last month and has since been connected to other cases of burglary, robbery, kidnapping, and sexual assault. Moore PD hosts 'Cola with a Cop' May 31 Police say, victims are female and from the Hispanic community. If you have been victimized, or have any additional information on Morales contact Crime Stoppers 405.235.7300 Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Flanks: Core holdings with lasting value
Álvaro Morales, chief strategy officer and co-founder at Flanks, draws from decades in global private banking to reflect on the timeless role of traditional assets in portfolio construction. He explains how equities, bonds, and cash continue to be at the core of wealth management despite innovation reshaping the instruments around them in a discussion that crosses the boundaries of technology and investment philosophy. Amid the hype surrounding tokenisation and decentralised finance, Morales brings a more grounded perspective: traditional assets like equities, bonds, and cash still hold enduring value. They remain, in his words, 'the backbone of diversification in a typical modern portfolio and I don't see this changing any time soon.' Morales sees firsthand how technology is reshaping wealth management. But even amid this digital transformation, he argues for a balanced perspective: 'Global high-net-worth investors usually hold roughly one-fifth in equities, one-fifth in bonds, and one-fifth in cash,' he explains. The remaining 40% which now includes real estate, private equity, gold, and crypto adds an additional layer of diversification, but does not displace the core. The role of innovation, Morales believes, is not to replace these foundational elements but to improve how they are accessed, analysed, and managed. 'Innovation should enhance the core, not replace it,' he notes. He points to Europe's 64 million open-banking users, a number that has quadrupled since 2020 as a sign of this transformation. Flanks taps into this trend by enabling real-time access to balance sheet data across institutions. 'Technology compresses back-office costs by roughly 30%, and managers can redeploy those savings to improve client returns,' Morales says. In his view, this is where innovation creates real value, not in the invention of new asset classes, but in making existing ones more transparent, efficient, and actionable. Even traditional assets carry hidden risks. Morales points to 2022 as a wake-up call: 'Treasuries fell 13% after a 200-basis-point rate spike their worst year on record yet many investors still do not grasp why their bond portfolios declined.' Duration risk, he emphasises, remains misunderstood. Another emerging issue is concentration. 'Index funds now hold more than half of US long-term fund assets,' Morales warns. 'Liquidity could evaporate, and a sudden exit could overwhelm the market.' In other words, simplicity has its own dangers. With interest rates rising after years of near-zero yields, fixed income is regaining its allure. 'Carry has returned,' Morales says. 'A 10-year Treasury yielding about 4.5% provides enough coupon to cushion moderate rate moves.' For today's investor, the question is no longer whether to hold bonds, but where on the yield curve to position. He recommends tools like floating-rate notes and TIPS (Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities) to better manage interest-rate and inflation risk. The pandemic era served as a critical stress test for portfolio resilience. Morales believes investors have learned three fundamental lessons: 'Keep a liquid shock absorber, favour quality over leverage, and diversify by risk drivers, not just by names.' In equities, this means blending resilient dividend payers with growth companies. In bonds, pairing short-duration investment-grade credit with inflation-linked or floating-rate paper. 'Hold some cash, T-bills, or gold - assets that can be tapped when liquidity evaporates and rebalance opportunistically around volatility spikes,' he advises. Having worked across jurisdictions as diverse as the US, UK, and Latin America, Morales sees regulation not as a constraint but as a variable to manage strategically. 'Regulation shapes wrappers, not assets,' he says. 'The same corporate bond ladder might be packaged as a UCITS ETF in Europe, a 40-Act fund in the US, or a Cayman note for Latin-American families.' Firms that use technology to streamline compliance, he adds, gain a competitive edge. 'Reducing onboarding time from weeks to days is a real advantage,' Morales notes. As Chairman of the Risk and Audit Committees at Banesco USA, Morales underlines a disciplined approach to risk. 'Effective risk management relies on the first, second, and third lines of defence,' he says. 'After decades in banking, I respect risk even when it is not apparent. Risk never sleeps.' Governance is key: 'An empowered risk committee with veto power, strict rebalancing bands of ±5%, and quarterly scenario drills with external experts, those are the most important things to put in place.' Morales also reflects on his experience managing traditional asset strategies globally, including at Santander Private Banking. 'Wrappers vary with tax regimes, but the underlying assets remain the same,' he says. 'US investors gravitate toward domestic equities, UK clients pursue broad geographic diversification while retaining a home bias, and Latin-American investors prefer higher-yield sovereign and corporate bonds.' Private banks today may offer similar products, but Morales believes execution separates the best from the rest. 'Service quality, execution speed, and after-tax alpha are decisive,' he states. With data aggregation and workflow automation, firms can streamline manual tasks by up to 70% freeing advisers to focus on strategy. 'That's a big differentiator today, as the next generation of clients demands both personalisation and an 'online banking like' experience.' By consolidating data across global institutions, the platform provides clients and advisers with a 'unified 360° view' of assets and liabilities. 'This T+0 transparency allows cash drag, drift, and concentration to be flagged immediately,' Morales explains. 'Discussions shift from post-mortem reviews to real-time actions.' Flanks is also harnessing AI to do more than automate reporting. 'Our AI-powered data enrichment process gives advisors actionable insights that were previously impossible to gain when working with scattered Excel files,' says Morales. The result: better, faster decisions and potentially enhanced client returns. Morales offers pragmatic advice for future wealth managers: 'Liquidity is never free; 2022 showed that even safe-haven assets can tumble. Markets do not always rise, and black swans are real.' His approach favours process over prediction: 'Trust disciplined processes and sound knowledge over a guru's predictions. Design for the long term, execute in the short term, and monitor in real time.' Looking to the next decade, Morales remains confident in the dominance of traditional assets. 'They are pillars of the capitalist system, and I expect them to remain at or above 60% of diversified portfolios through 2040,' he says. While tokenisation may reshape infrastructure, 'equities and bonds will continue to provide the deepest, safest, and most regulated pools for income and growth.' Even in a landscape transformed by algorithms and APIs, Morales reminds us that solid fundamentals combined with smart technology remain the bedrock of enduring investment success. "Flanks: Core holdings with lasting value" was originally created and published by Private Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
On 'personal time' in Hungary, SOS Diego Morales touts Trump, Indiana at CPAC conference
Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales posted a photo on social media on May 30 highlighting that he was spending "personal time" in Europe with his wife. Less than an hour later, he was on stage at a Conservative Political Action Conference in Hungary where he gave a speech touting President Donald Trump's leadership and Indiana's investment "in international partnerships" during his time in office. Morales spoke for just under six minutes on the second day of the CPAC Hungary event during a segment titled "No border, No order." But Morales made a point to highlight a recent visit Hungarian officials made to the Indiana Statehouse when his wife, who is a Hungarian immigrant, was recognized as the honorary consul of Hungary to Indiana. "President Trump believes in America first, but that does not mean America alone," Morales said. "In Indiana, we are also investing in international partnerships. Just recently, we welcomed the Hungarian ambassador, the deputy speaker of the house and other dignitaries to strengthen economic and cultural ties." In his remarks he praised Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban as "a great leader" and highlighted his 2022 victory "as the first Hispanic Latino elected to a statewide office." He drew connections between Trump and his elected office. "As Indiana Secretary of State, I oversee our elections in Indiana, and I am proud to say that under Republican leadership, including President Trump's renewed focus on election integrity, we have strengthened confidence in our electoral system," Morales said. But the CPAC Hungary speech comes amid heightened criticism of the secretary of state's travels in recent months for trips that statewide elected officials and lawmakers have criticized for going beyond the scope of his office. In March, he traveled to India for a privately-funded "economic development" trip, which is outside the primary functions of his office. A spokesperson for Morales this week said he was away for the week on "personal time," language he has used in multiple posts on X about his travels in Hungary. But social media posts and news articles indicate he has also taken meetings with Hungarian officials. "Secretary Morales receives invitations for meetings and functions throughout the year as his title remains Indiana Secretary of State at all times," Spokeswoman Lindsey Eaton said in an email to IndyStar on May 28. Morales' speech was not his first at the CPAC Hungary event. He also spoke at the conference in 2023. Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany. Sign up for our free weekly politics newsletter, Checks & Balances, curated by IndyStar politics and government reporters. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: What Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales said at CPAC Hungary
Indianapolis Star
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Indianapolis Star
On 'personal time' in Hungary, SOS Diego Morales touts Trump, Indiana at CPAC conference
Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales posted a photo on social media on May 30 highlighting that he was spending "personal time" in Europe with his wife. Less than an hour later, he was on stage at a Conservative Political Action Conference in Hungary where he gave a speech touting President Donald Trump's leadership and Indiana's investment "in international partnerships" during his time in office. Morales spoke for just under six minutes on the second day of the CPAC Hungary event during a segment titled "No border, No order." But Morales made a point to highlight a recent visit Hungarian officials made to the Indiana Statehouse when his wife, who is a Hungarian immigrant, was recognized as the honorary consul of Hungary to Indiana. "President Trump believes in America first, but that does not mean America alone," Morales said. "In Indiana, we are also investing in international partnerships. Just recently, we welcomed the Hungarian ambassador, the deputy speaker of the house and other dignitaries to strengthen economic and cultural ties." In his remarks he praised Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban as "a great leader" and highlighted his 2022 victory "as the first Hispanic Latino elected to a statewide office." He drew connections between Trump and his elected office. "As Indiana Secretary of State, I oversee our elections in Indiana, and I am proud to say that under Republican leadership, including President Trump's renewed focus on election integrity, we have strengthened confidence in our electoral system," Morales said. But the CPAC Hungary speech comes amid heightened criticism of the secretary of state's travels in recent months for trips that statewide elected officials and lawmakers have criticized for going beyond the scope of his office. In March, he traveled to India for a privately-funded "economic development" trip, which is outside the primary functions of his office. A spokesperson for Morales this week said he was away for the week on "personal time," language he has used in multiple posts on X about his travels in Hungary. But social media posts and news articles indicate he has also taken meetings with Hungarian officials. "Secretary Morales receives invitations for meetings and functions throughout the year as his title remains Indiana Secretary of State at all times," Spokeswoman Lindsey Eaton said in an email to IndyStar on May 28. Morales' speech was not his first at the CPAC Hungary event. He also spoke at the conference in 2023. Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany.
