FA Match, a digital recruitment platform that connects financial services firms with advisors, has partnered with a handful of technology companies to help it grow.
Six companies—AdvisorAssist, LifeYield, Oranj, Orion Advisor Services, Redtail Technology and Riskalyze—have joined the FA Match Alliance and intend to integrate and promote the platform.
Ryan Shanks, the Finetooth Consulting founder and advisor recruiter who launched FA Match in January, told WealthManagement.com the marketing relationship between his new company and the partners is mutually beneficial. FA Match gains necessary exposure to help it grow its business of matching advisors to advisory firms, and the partners see it as a value-add for their users.
“When you’re a startup it’s really difficult to create the awareness. Unless you want to throw a ton of money advertising at it, and that may or may not work,” said Shanks.
Advisor profiles are free and completely anonymous on FA Match, until they agree to connect with a mutually interested party such as among registered investment advisor firms, banks, wirehouses and independent broker/dealers. It’s free for firms and advisors to register on the site. If a firm has success in bringing an advisor on board, they then pay a fee.
Online platforms to facilitate matches between wealth managers and firms have been attempted in the past with mixed results, but are coming back into vogue.
St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Raymond James announced plans earlier this month to develop a new network for prospective buyers and sellers of advisory practices to connect, a kind of Match.com or eHarmony for advisors.
AdvisorBid, an online recruitment tool and a marketplace for buyers and sellers of wealth management firms, launched public profiles for all RIAs in February. Regardless of whether an advisor has signed up for AdvisorBid, they now have a profile on the platform.
