Moneta Group Expands Globally With U.K. Partnership Deal
Moneta Group has announced a strategic partnership with a London-based financial planner and is going global to serve Moneta Global Wealth’s globally established clients.
In an interview with Wealth managementMoneta CEO Eric Kittner praised the partnership with Thomson Tyndall, a UK company established in 2016 that specializes in financial planning and investment management. In addition, more large RIAs are looking for international business in the “natural evolution” of the multi-decade growth in the space.
According to Moneta, the Thomson Tyndall partnership is built on growing client demand, particularly from clients living in the US, working or retiring internationally, as well as expats with ties to the US and family offices. The challenges range from cross-border tax laws and regulatory demands to currency needs and market stressors. According to Kittner, the partnership with Thomson Tyndall is particularly fueled by Moneta’s growing number of overseas clients who have been living and working in the UK for years.
Although he kept Moneta busy for a while (including having consultants fly to and from England), Kittner quickly realized that Moneta wanted a presence in the country. Rather than registering directly with the Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates financial services firms in the UK, the partnership model quickly made more sense.
“We go there because our customers bring us there,” he said.
Once they chose the partnership model, Kittner said, Thomson Tyndall made the most sense from a culture- and style-fit perspective, mirroring Moneta’s model of boutique relationships in a firm that operates at scale. Moneta’s advisers in the UK operate under the firm’s brand, using Thomson Tyndall as a “strategic back- and middle-office partner”.
“What we’re really getting is a place where our consultants can get the expertise, oversight, training and development, and support they need to deliver to the clients they serve,” says Kittner.
Thomson Tyndall was founded in London in 2016 and works with private clients, families, charities and business owners. CEO Jamie Ferguson said the partnership will enable the two companies to offer a truly integrated service to help customers travel on both sides of the Atlantic.
“We believe that international mobile customers often face a complex and fragmented advice landscape with traditional financial service providers, particularly US citizens living in the UK and other overseas countries,” he said.
Kittner echoed that sentiment, saying the UK financial advice industry is “very fragmented, and not necessarily institutionalized”, the RIA industry is at a similar level to that in the US, and he expects more well-capitalised RIAs to enter that space.
Moneta’s move to grow its global business (particularly in London’s pipeline) is mirrored by innovative plans and moves by industry peers including Corrent.
In March, it closed a deal to acquire an Overland Park, Kan.-based innovation plan London-based MASECO LLPadding 123 employees and more than $5 billion in assets under management.
It marks Creative Planning’s second international deal since its acquisition in January Baseline Wealth Management based in Switzerland.
Last September, Miami-based Corient (the US-based RIA arm of CI Financial) reached an agreement Find a pair of wealth managers based in the UK It oversees a total of $214 billion in assets: Stonehage Fleming, a Jersey-based multifamily office, and Stanhope Capital Group, which operates out of London. At the beginning of this year The company bought Bedrock GroupA $10.7 billion European wealth manager with offices in Geneva, London, Monaco and Lisbon.
Looking at the industry as a whole (including aggregators like Coriant), Kittner notes that M&A (as well as broader growth demand) in the industry is not going anywhere. Still, the number of buyers has grown “dramatically” over the past few decades.
“So you need more deal flow just to feed the new entrants into the M&A activity,” he said. “And then at some point, if you’re a big American company, your targets are going to lead you outside of the US.”
According to Kittner, the firms are no longer seeing cross-border operations as a geographic limitation that is holding back the continued expansion of RIAs, and the progress seems more understandable when comparing the industry’s largest RIAs operating globally to wirehouses. RIAs are now a “real competitor” in the wealth space, and far surpass the “mom-and-pop”-industry atmosphere of two decades ago.
“We’re beyond that, with firms approaching a trillion dollars in assets at this point, and the natural progression of opportunities is leading them beyond the US,” he said. “I think it’s just evolution.”
