Against this backdrop, more and more advisors are spinning off from larger institutions and “going independent,” which as one executive told Family Wealth Report previously used to be a point of anxiety but is now a point of confidence – particularly given the ongoing fiduciary debate.

New York City-headquartered Dynasty Financial Partners, which develops, sources and integrates wealth management capabilities for independent advisors, recently toasted its fifth birthday; 2015 was a stand-out year for the firm, having taken on close to $10 billion in assets. Dynasty's success is evidence that the wealth management landscape is getting more sophisticated and transparency-orientated, said Shirl Penney, chief executive at the firm.

"When we talk about the fiduciary movement, end-clients think in terms of wanting advice that is separate from where products are manufactured and sold,” Penney said.

"If you look at asset flows – billions and billions a year – from banks and wirehouses to the independent channel, half of that has been from advisors going independent,” he said. “The other half has been from the breakaway client movement, which has received less attention. Growth is being magnified by advisors making the move to independence and clients looking proactively for an independent-based advisor.”  

Describing Dynasty's banner year, Penney said the firm is onboarding teams from all corners of the industry: independent broker-dealers who feel they've outgrown their current platform and want to launch their own RIA as well as established RIAs who are tired of juggling different vendor balls and are spending too much time on middle- and back-office related items, as well as larger wirehouse breakaways.

"The size of the teams making the move has also increased because the road to independence is well worn now, and success breeds more success,” Penney said. “We're providing a safe passage and an easier transition for bigger, more sophisticated teams who cover larger end-clients. We're also seeing groups of advisors more often; we've even seen teams in different cities launching multi-city RIAs.”

Dynasty's business model

Dynasty doesn't own any equity in any of its underlying advisors and nor do they own equity in Dynasty, and the firm works with advisors in four ways. The first strand is with the transition and set-up of newcomers

The second area relates to “core services” - the running of the middle- and back-office, or essentially all that is required to run an RIA successfully. This includes all third-party services and costs as well as Dynasty’s proprietary advisor desktop technology and support of Dynasty’s 45-member home office team. Then there is financing – say if the RIA has broken away and needs money to launch the business, or if they're already independent but need money to buy another RIA.

The last area covers products and services to implement strategies for end-clients such as life insurance, capital markets, investment banking, TAMP, SMA, UMA, and – one of Dynasty's fastest-growing businesses – outsourced CIO. To contextualize the costs for these different areas combined, the average RIA working with Dynasty typically gets a 65-70 per cent gross income on their business after expenses by the time that all fixed and variable costs are accounted for in their RIA P&L, Penney said.

Today, Dynasty has 35 network partner firms, comprising more than 100 advisors representing over $600 million in combined average client assets per firm. As the firm has seen bigger teams joining its ranks it has made significant investments in areas such as capital markets, trading and alternative investments to accommodate the needs of wealthier clients.

Penney believes Dynasty is not simply taking advantage of a trend toward independence in wealth management, but is equally driving the movement forward by making it possible for advisors to more easily replace legacy systems at a time when many firms are grappling with how to make technology upgrades or even complete overhauls. The firm recently launched the Dynasty Desktop, for example, which provides integrated client engagement, investment management and business management tools for high-end advisors.

“It has been great to see advisors join our community come from legacy RIAs who seek better scale and operating efficiencies with their firm, IBD-based advisors who want to launch their own RIAs, or wirehouse advisors who are seeking independence for the first time,” said Dynasty’s head of service and transition, Jason Pinkham, in a recent statement.

A report by Cerulli in January of this year predicted that asset marketshare gains in the RIA and dually-registered channels are likely to come at the expense of wirehouses and independent broker-dealers in the next five years, reinforcing the trend that set in after the financial crisis and which has continued. The trend has been described as “historical and expected,” and due to a range of factors including the flexibility and autonomy inherent in the independent channel with regard to portfolio construction, operational flexibility, fee structure and technology. Penney is certainly optimistic about the future of Dynasty, and aims to have 50 network partner member firms by this time next year.