How Dynasty's Investment Bank Model Is Shaping Up

Tom Burroughes

18 September 2025

A month ago, while many Family Wealth Report readers might have taken a well-deserved break, St Petersburg, Florida-headquartered Dynasty Financial Partners continued a busy schedule that seems embedded in its business DNA. The firm agreed with Abacus Global Management to make minority investments in each other.

Entering into swap transactions of minority stakes and financing advisory firms to better align with client success – and hopefully share in the financial rewards – has been a feature of Dynasty’s business model. It has also been developing its investment banking business, launched in May 2023.

“Advisors know that being on the Dynasty platform appeals to private equity shops looking to invest capital in the space because our network partner firms generally grow faster and have better margins,” Sam Anderson, co-head of Dynasty Investment Bank, a unit within the Dynasty group, told FWR in a recent call.

“In many instances, private equity buyers are increasingly finding that if a firm is on our platform, it is much more investible. We can create better margins, allow for higher growth and provide cutting edge technology and data for that business,” Anderson said. “There’s a premium for buyers of firms on our platform that is real.” Dynasty has a network of RIAs including multi-family office platforms, representing 57 firms in total, and more than $120 billion in platform assets.

Anderson was appointed to his role at Dynasty in March, alongside Harris Baltch. Before joining Dynasty, they worked at Goldman Sachs and UBS, respectively. During their three years at Dynasty, the duo have collaborated on deals on behalf of the Dynasty Network.

This is clearly a field that Anderson relishes. Much of the “so-what?” of making investments and RIA transactions succeed is that RIAs obtain the tools they need to serve clients and run profitable businesses, Anderson said. With AI and other technologies becoming important budget line items, that’s important.

March was a big month for Dynasty: It announced a collaboration with Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs Custody Solutions is the preferred custodian of Dynasty’s independent RIA network. “This adds to our clients' ability to access institutional quality product and service for independent RIAs,” Anderson said. “Institutions see this as a big opportunity and Dynasty makes it easy for RIAs to access these products and services within an integrated open architecture technology enabled delivery platform.”

As noted by FWR before, there’s a squeeze on the number of advisors in the US, so they need all the technological help they can get. “The pool of high-quality advisors has shrunk,” he said. “Increasingly, we find that independent RIAs are training in-house, developing their own talent and giving equity in a firm.”

Investment banking model
The investment banking side of Dynasty has the advantage over others, Anderson said, from the operational experience the group has gained in working with wealth managers over the last 15 years. “We have gained a deep understanding of their needs,” he said. Also, the bank – operating under a “merchant banking” model – does not only look after RIAs that are in the Dynasty network, Anderson said.

“In the RIA system…we are unique, and we know the business well from an operating perspective. The level of due diligence is unmatched,” he said.

“We have a great set of tools to know how firms are set up, and how their technology works together. And we have a balance sheet,” he continued, adding: “We are in the unique position to also provide capital from our balance sheet to help clients complete transactions in a number of creative ways. However, we are not aggregators or buyer of RIAs, we provide accommodative solution-based capital to help clients.”

Dynasty’s approach to loans for RIA clients has been evolving. Back in 2021, US correspondent Charles Paikert spoke to CEO Shirl Penney about the strategy. Penny said the firm offers advisors cash for between 5 per cent and 10 per cent of the firm’s revenues, with an option to buy it back after a few years. M&A experts at the time told FWR that Dynasty’s investment bank move was a logical extension of its model.

The private equity force
Dynasty has been riding a rising elevator. Strategic platforms, such as RIA platforms and consolidators, have been big M&A players. Private equity money is significant. While private equity deal volume dipped slightly in Q2 compared with Q1, the average deal size surged from $36.1 billion to $59.3 billion – suggesting a shift in strategy toward fewer but larger transactions, according to ECHELON Partners in July this year. There were 22 direct private equity investments in the first half of 2025, matching the pace of 2024, that report said. Private equity-sponsored deals reached 144 transactions year-to-date, putting 2025 on track to exceed last year’s all-time high of 215 transactions. Despite the short-term decline in volume, the longer-term trajectory remains upward.
While not everyone thinks private equity is the ideal suitor for wealth management – although much depends on structure, employee alignment and timeframe – Anderson said the industry has certainly been a “force for change for a long period of time.”

It is easy to see why private equity likes wealth management, given the multi-trillion-dollar wealth transfer, continued entrepreneurial wealth creation, and the fact that the sector is not capital-intensive relative to areas such as manufacturing.

The move by advisors to break away from banks and wirehouses to form RIAs shows a continued desire for independence, a force that end clients appreciate, and custodian firms are also dialed into this, Anderson said. “People are more comfortable going to an independent firm.”

“We like situations where we are in full alignment with our clients and it is a win-win from that perspective,” he said "The important point is that we support independence and the success of these business owners.”