Dynasty Signs $1.2 Billion RIA Team, Plans Midwest Central Office

Dynasty Financial Partners has snagged another independent investment advisory firm to its network, this time from a group that spun off from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney with about $1.2 billion in AUM.

The new advisory firm, King Wealth Management Group, will operate using a platform of customized services that Dynasty Financial Partners has created for it, including Black Diamond’s institutional back offices and Dynasty’s own wealth management platform, which integrates industry-leading research from Callan Associates.

The move is a new chapter for Larry King, CIO and managing partner of King Wealth Management Group, and Daniel Gale, a senior partner, who will lead the firm. King, in particular, has 22 years in the industry, and was an advisor at Merrill Lynch and Prudential Securities before joining Morgan Stanley. King also helped found the Academy of Certified Portfolio Managers and served on the board of directors for the Portfolio Management Institute.

“At some level, they have become a beachhead in that market for us,” said Shirl Penney, CEO of Dynasty Financial Partners. “They are a big part of what we’re looking for. They are high-caliber individuals.”

Advisors like King, who spent much of their careers at large firms like MSSB, will continue to shift their businesses away from the wirehouse model, through several internal and external brokerage channel dynamics, Penney said. As more advisors move their practices out of the wirehouse channel, they gain expertise that they can share with peers who are considering a similar move. A number of advisors who had retention packages at firms are fulfilling the terms of those agreements. Lastly, RIA firms, networks and platform providers all have significantly greater access to capital from banks and venture capital firms who want to support the independent business model, Penney said.

“The level of inquiries has picked up,” Penney said. “Advisors are free to look around.”

Dynasty Financial Partners is looking around too, to the Midwest, specifically. The New York based firm has signed nine partner firms onto its service platform, representing $10 billion in AUM. They are all on the East Coast by design, ensuring that Dynasty’s senior executives have easy access to the managing partners.

Now, it is engaging in talks with potential partners in the Midwest, which could also result in a centralized office in that region, Penney said.

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