The RIA platform with a focus on minority staking partnerships has selected Goldman as a primary provider for lending, direct indexing, custom models, and fixed-income SMAs.
Oregon-based Eagle Wealth Management and Idaho-based West Oak Capital give Mercer 11 acquisitions in 2025, matching last year's total.
Osaic-owned CW Advisors has added more than $500 million to reach $14.5 billion in AUM, while Apella's latest deal brings more than $1 billion in new client assets.
The up-and-coming Los Angeles-based RIA is looking to tap Merchant's resources to strengthen its alts distribution, advisor recruitment, and family office services.
The $325 billion RIA giant is building its first centralized investment management platform, with an industry veteran taking on a newly created role.
US wealth advisory business will get international footprint boost with new tie-ups.
"We've seen two so far, and it feels like something that the industry has been talking about for years," Turkey Hill Management's Jessica Polito says following the recent Cresset-Monticello and MAI-Evoke Advisors mergers, which could be a sign of future consolidation among large RIAs.
JPMorgan and RBC have also welcomed ex-UBS advisors in Texas, while Steward Partners and SpirePoint make new additions in the Sun Belt.
Elsewhere, two breakaway teams from Morgan Stanley and Merrill unite to form a $2 billion RIA, while a Texas-based independent merges with a Bay Area advisory practice.
"A lot of advisors think, I don't want to sell to private equity or join a firm that's PE backed, because those evil private equity people like Edward Lewis are just going to strip my firm, fire my people, reduce all the costs," says Modern Wealth's Jason Gordo. "That's just not the way it works in the RIA community."
Meanwhile, Fifth Third's RIA arm adds a former billion-dollar BNY trio in Boulder, Colorado, while a hybrid RIA opens a new North Carolina location with a former Raymond James-affiliated team.
"It's about connecting with the client and supporting the client and their needs specifically and giving them financial confidence to be able to live out their goals," said Marianne Caswell, president of Park Avenue Securities at Guardian Life.
"That's something we aspire to do, to build out a referral network," Altruist CFO Marc Greenberg told InvestmentNews, though the custodian is currently leaning more on AI and workflow automation to support growth for its 5,100+ advisors.
RIAs like IFC Advisors directly compete against firms like Wells Fargo Advisors for financial advisors.
Firm recruits advisors managing a combined $430 million.
Ares on the dynamics driving the rising interest in sports assets.
Summit Financial unveiled a suite of eight new tools, including AI lead gen and digital marketing software, while MassMutual forges a new partnership with Orion.
The strategic merger of equals with the $27 billion RIA firm in Los Angeles marks what could be the largest unification of the summer 2025 M&A season.
Longtime Commonwealth marketing executive Sarah Howes has been hired to spearhead advisor marketing at Farther, and 16 ex-Commonwealth advisors totaling $1.7 billion AUM are set to follow her to the technology-focused RIA.
The RIA giant's newest C-suite appointee will take charge of its long-term strategic planning as well as its M&A and portfolio consolidation efforts.
