Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match with a well-qualified advisor seeking a “meaningful career transition.”
FA Match—a digital recruitment platform that connects RIA firms, banks, wirehouses and independent broker-dealers—officially launched in late January.
“Available industry-wide, FA Match’s ‘Mutual Match’ technology makes it easy for advisors to discreetly search for job opportunities and build relationships with deserving firms on the basis of mutual compatibility,” according to the company.
FA Match creates a unique advisor profile for each candidate, which includes qualitative and quantitative search criteria based on location, employee benefits and service offerings.
Firms who wish to join the platform and seek candidates have the ability to filter advisors by revenue, AUM, years of service, professional licensing, breakaway status and more.
FA Match secured $500,000 in its initial round of seed capital funding, led by Mass Mutual “along with other investors from the financial technology community.”
There is no monthly cost for either party to use the platform—rather, firms pay an industry-standard fee completely contingent on FA Match’s promise to place quality candidates.
“From top to bottom, FA Match is centered around the advisor,” CEO Ryan Shanks, who also founded Finetooth Consulting in 2006, said in a statement. “It’s discrete, it’s smart, and most of all, it allows advisors to navigate quality career opportunities on their own terms with no strings attached. With FA Match, we’ve intentionally flipped the recruiting process on its head, because when advisors have full control of the process, firms benefit from higher-quality, intentional searches that yield better results for the future of their business.”
Once advisors and firms show mutual interest, FA Match discloses identifying information about the advisor with their permission and continues as a liaison between both parties.
In addition to connecting advisors and firms together, FA Match is a digital solution for traditional recruitment agencies looking to scale and grow their search capabilities.
FA Match launched its beta software in October 2018, adding 14 financial firms onto the platform, including Atria Wealth Solutions.
“We are very excited about Atria’s partnership with FA Match,” added Kevin Beard, Atria’s chief growth officer and founding partner. “As the industry evolves, advisors are re-imagining what the right home for them looks like—they are focused on finding a firm like Atria that can support them in their growth while elevating the client experience. FA Match helps advisors make the best choice for aligning their practice with the best firm to achieve their goals. We think FA Match will lead Atria to more actionable meetings with the right candidates. We see great things ahead for this partnership with Ryan and his team.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.