TD Ameritrade Offers ‘Matchmaking’ Service for Like-Minded Advisors

You probably won't see commercials featuring beautiful people laughing over drinks at an imagined meet-up, but on Thursday TD Ameritrade Institutional announced its foray into the matchmaking business. According to the company, its new RIAConnect platform takes advisor/RIA matchmaking to a "new level."

"For independent registered investment advisors and those who want to become one, RIAConnect can be a catalyst to help them pursue a wide range of business goals," the company said in Thursday's announcement. "Whether an advisor wants to join an existing RIA firm, achieve scale through strategic relationships or secure a succession plan, they will be introduced to established RIA firms with proven capabilities to support their objectives." RIAConnect addresses a variety of situations and opportunities including:

• Seeking Scale: Advisory firms that want to merge or integrate with a larger RIA firm in order to bring together complementary business capabilities and gain efficiencies.
• Succession: Advisors who are interested in selling their business to a third party because of retirement or to create a full or partial liquidity event.
• Joining an Established RIA Firm: Breakaway brokers looking to achieve independence, with the benefits of joining an established RIA firm with existing infrastructure and support.
• Keeping Commission-Based Business: Advisors who want to pursue the benefits of the RIA model to have more control over how they manage client assets and keep more of what they earn, but require an existing broker-dealer relationship to handle their commission business.

"As breakaway brokers continue to seek the benefits of the independent RIA model and a large number of RIAs near retirement, we're seeing unprecedented opportunities to create mutually beneficial relationships between advisors," Ben Welch, director, advisor business development, TD Ameritrade Institutional, said in a statement. "RIAConnect meets the increasing demand for a more effective way to connect firms and helps support advisor growth potential."