Merrill private bankers in Texas register, join Dynasty

Two financial advisers from Merrill Lynch's Private Banking and Investment Group launched their own RIA last week and announced they will use Dynasty Financial Partners LLC's wealth management platform. Chad Clary and Dane Crunk, who had been with Merrill Lynch since 1999 and 2000, respectively, registered Syntal Capital Partners LLC with the SEC on May 4 and announced their partnership with Dynasty this morning. The two, joined by four other team members at Merrill Lynch, managed more than $750 million. They did not disclose trailing-12-month production. A Merrill Lynch spokeswoman did not provide comment by press time. “We felt the Dynasty platform would allow us to take care of our clients in ways they we couldn't in the past,” Mr. Clary said. “Many of our clients have sophisticated needs such as hedging, lending and other services. We didn't feel we could meet those needs on an independent platform until we met with Dynasty.” Based in Midland, Texas, Mr. Clary and Mr. Crunk specialize in serving the wealth management needs of families who work in the energy production and services industry. In many cases, their clients have concentrated stock positions and a lot of exposure to energy prices. Mr. Clary said many require lending services for their businesses and hedging strategies to protect against their energy risk exposure. “Our clients are entrepreneurs and businesspeople. I think they appreciate us becoming entrepreneurs, as well,” said Mr. Clary. Syntal plans to use Fidelity Investments and Pershing Advisor Solutions LLC for clearing and custody services. Dynasty now has 12 firms managing $11.2 billion in assets using its investment platform. The firm was launched at the end of 2010 with the aim of recruiting high-end advisers — particularly from the wirehouses, who want to own their own practices. “We support people looking to be entrepreneurs,” said Dynasty CEO Shirl Penney. “If advisers don't want to own their own business, this isn't a good option for them.” Mr. Penney has the ambitious goal of having 100 advisory firms with upwards of $100 billion in assets on the Dynasty platform in the next five years.