By Patrick Blennerhassett / Las Vegas Review-Journal
Ken Winans has a bold idea: turn Las Vegas into the financial capital of the American West.
Winans, the president and chief investment officer of Winans Investments — the only Morningstar five-star and gold-medal rated investment management firm headquartered in Las Vegas — believes the valley is better positioned than most people realize to become a major hub for financial services companies relocating from California and other high-tax states.
“Las Vegas is a lot more than the Strip,” Winans said, speaking from his offices at Tivoli Village. “It makes more sense than other locations for California-based financial firms to relocate their headquarters.”
His case rests on a set of structural advantages that Nevada already has in place. The state has no income tax, a business-friendly regulatory environment, world-class security infrastructure built by the casino industry, modern commercial developments incorporating solar power and 5G wireless, and residential communities such as Summerlin and Henderson that offer a quality of life capable of attracting senior financial executives and their families.
Winans points to California as the opportunity. According to Morningstar, there are 3,245 mutual funds, 764 exchange-traded funds, and 1,164 separate account managers that still list California as their headquarters — including global giants such as iShares, Franklin Templeton, PIMCO, and American Funds. Many of their senior executives, he argues, are actively weighing their options as California’s tax and regulatory environment continues to push businesses toward Texas, Tennessee, and Florida.
Las Vegas, Winans contends, should be competing directly for that business.
The biggest obstacle he identifies is not infrastructure or quality of life — it is coordination. Nevada’s state government currently spends just 0.8 percent of its budget on economic development, and while Winans says there is bipartisan support for financial services diversification, he believes the valley needs a more unified public-private effort to compete with Phoenix and Dallas for relocating firms.
His top priority would be a formal proclamation from the governor and legislative leaders specifically inviting California financial services companies to relocate their headquarters to Las Vegas — a signal that Nevada is not just open for business generally, but actively courting the financial sector in particular.
“Refocusing Las Vegas as a community and not just an entertainment center,” Winans said, is the cultural shift that has to accompany the economic one.
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal, July 23, 2026. Reported by Patrick Blennerhassett.