Ila Afsharipour joined Wells Fargo this week as managing director. He will head the firm's real estate, securitization, and affordable housing team, as well as work with Nick Fluehr in co-heading the firm's broader housing public finance team.
Afsharipour, who has more than a decade of experience in the public finance sector, will be responsible for originating and executing municipal securitizations, workforce housing transactions, and real estate-related financings.
Ila Afsharipour joined Wells Fargo this week as managing director.
Afsharipour joins Wells Fargo from KeyBanc, where he worked as managing director and oversaw the firm's affordable housing, 501(c)(3) and higher education businesses. Before that, Afsharipour worked as senior banker at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, USBank and Credit Suisse.
Afsharipour has been involved in over $10 billion of financings, including private placements, third-party tender option bond programs, structured trades and interest-rate derivatives.
Based in San Francisco, Afsharipour will partner with Wells Fargo's commercial real estate, investor finance, and community lending and investment teams. He will report to Mark Burns and Julie Burger.
"We are pleased to welcome Ila to Wells Fargo," Burger said. "His appointment underscores the importance of our real estate, securitization, and affordable housing team within public finance as we continue to focus on providing innovative solutions to our municipal and not-for-profit clients."
He earned a bachelor's degree in economics and international finance from California Polytechnic State University.
The Investment Company Institute reported $1.221 billion of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Nov. 20. Exchange-traded funds saw inflows of $836 million.
November's total is below the 10-year average of $32.278 billion and is the lowest monthly total this year. The year's total is about $25 billion short of $500 billion.
"Earlier this month, Chair [Jerome] Powell noted that there was no 'hurry' to cut rates," noted BMO Senior Economist Priscilla Thiagamoorthy. The minutes, she noted, "confirm a broad support for taking a more cautious approach in easing monetary policy."
