Wealth management platform provider Dynasty Financial Partners and private equity firm Method Holdings have announced a partnership that will offer a platform of services for wealth management practices owned by large CPA firms.
The partnership taps into the enormous potential for referral business between CPA firms and embedded wealth management firms, says Shirl Penney, CEO of Dynasty. “Eighty-five of the top 100 CPA firms have wealth management practices,” Penney says. “We have a lot of faith and belief in the principals at Method. We think they are thought leaders in the space.”
In the partnership, Dynasty, based in New York, will provide its platform services to the CPA firm-owned wealth management practices Method Holdings plans to invest in.
Method Holdings will buy non-majority stakes in the wealth management practices of the CPA firms, and ensure that when accounting clients are referred to the wealth management units, those investors have a positive experience, according to Tony Wood, CEO of Method Holdings.
“We embed ourselves with the accounting firms and align our vision with the way they grow the business,” Wood says. “We focus on growing it the way accountants want to grow it.”
The deal also is a preferred partnership with Method Holdings, not an exclusive one, says Penney.
For its part, Method already jointly owns HA&W Wealth Management, based in Atlanta, with Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, a large regional accounting firm.
Through Dynasty, Method has selected some of the industry’s top names in back-office wealth management support. Charles Schwab and Fidelity Investments have signed on as asset custodians; Black Diamond Performance Reporting is the reporting technology provider; and Envestnet will supply asset management solutions.
Donna Mitchell writes for
