$900M UBS Group Moves to Dynasty; LPL Team Jumps to Raymond James

November 12, 2013 at 09:18 AM
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Dynasty Financial Partners said Tuesday that a team of advisors previously working for UBS (UBS) is now using its wealth-management and IT platform, after recently setting up shop as Fusion Family Wealth, an independent investment advisory firm with offices in New York and Long Island, N.Y.

Meanwhile, Raymond James (RJF) said Tuesday the independent firm of Private Wealth Management at Heathrow, in Lake Mary, Fla., recently affiliated with it. The group, formerly affiliated with LPL Financial (LPLA), includes three advisors and has some $310 million in client assets.

"Fusion Family Wealth offers its clients an innovative business model," said Dynasty President & CEO Shirl Penney, in a statement. "Over the years, [its leader Jonathan Blau] has built a substantial network of accounting and legal professionals and has successfully collaborated with a wide center of influence in building his business. Now, more opportunities will present themselves to Fusion Wealth as independent advisors and they will be able to deliver a wider solution set to clients."

In addition to Blau, an ex-senior vice president with UBS who is now the group's CEO and president, Fusion Family Wealth includes three other advisors and one associate: Harvey Radler, Jeffrey Blick, Joel Bodner and James Cloudman.

"Fusion Family Wealth was formed for a simple reason: We recognized that clients expect a high level of professional care aligned with the highest legal fiduciary standard. As an SEC-registered firm, we are able to fuse these two concepts together," said Blau, in a press release.

Blau has worked in the past for Sanford C. Bernstein and Morgan Stanley (MS), as has Radler—who also has over 40 years in the business and served on a disciplinary panel of the NYSE for 25 years.

Blick joined a tax practice at Arthur Anderson, moved to Merrill Lynch and then was part of the Blau/Radler Group at Morgan Stanley in 2000, before joining UBS with the group in 2008.

Bodner worked for Merrill Lynch (BAC) and UBS, while Cloudman joined the group at UBS in 2010

"At Fusion, we are committed to offering the highest standard of care to individual clients and professional services clients," Blau noted.  "This is possible through Dynasty's open-architecture platform of best-in-class resources. All of our clients benefit from the scale of the Dynasty Network. In addition, we now have the flexibility to work strategically with large accounting and law firms in handling a wider array of financial capabilities."

Dynasty says it built a unique platform for Fusion Family, which includes Dynasty's investment platform that offers advisors research from Wilshire Associates and Callan Associates, as well as Envestnet portfolio tools and reporting technology. Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services will provide clearing and custody services for the new affiliated group.

Last week, Dallas-based Point Bridge Capital moved to Dynasty's wealth management services and technology platform; it was founded by a former-Credit Suisse director.

Raymond James' Recruiting

The new Raymond James Financial Services group includes FAs Patrick Buchanan, CFP, ChFC, CLU; Dominic Nori and Adam Goldstein.

"It is a pleasure to welcome this exceptional team to Raymond James," said Jodi Perry, Southeast regional director for Raymond James Financial Services, the firm's independent channel, in a statement

According to Buchanan, the team has expertise in individual bond trading and specifically municipals. Raymond James' fixed-income desk "can further enhance the trading part of our practice," he said in a press release.

The group also was impressed with Raymond James' technology platform "and integration with the back office is excellent in terms of user interface for clients and daily practice efficacy…" Buchanan noted.

"Lastly, we felt that aligning with a recognizable broker/dealer that shares a similar value proposition would help grow our brand regionally and further our recruiting and business succession opportunities," he explained.

Buchanan began his financial-services career in 1996 at American Express. Nori has been in the industry for almost 30 years, while Goldstein went into the business 17 years ago at American Express.

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