September 25, 2019
Louis Diamond Quoted
By Charle Paikert
Earlier this summer, Merchant launched a capital lending division, with a boost from Fidelity Investments, to go along with its asset management arm, minority ownership stakes in over a dozen RIAs, a company to help transition breakaway brokers and partnerships with firms that offer compliance and outsourced accounting services.
While this Merchant business line appears to be competing directly with Dynasty Financial Partners’ platform model, Louis Diamond, executive recruiter of financial advisors at Diamond Consultants, says the market can accommodate both firms.
“I think there’s a lot of room for competing options,” Diamond says. “Some RIAs will want everything from one shop, while others will just want bits and pieces of what Dynasty offers. I think Merchant is appealing to a different subset of the industry.”
