This past May, we reported that Sanctuary Wealth had acquired tru Independence, creating a combined enterprise supporting approximately 120 independent wealth management firms managing over $42 billion in assets for predominantly high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients across 30 states.
Sanctuary operates a multi-custodial, hybrid model that often attracts former wirehouse advisors who want the benefits of owning an independent wealth management firm while entrusting the regulatory responsibilities to someone else.
tru Independence offers a suite of services for independent advisors to manage and grow their practices. Over the past 10 years, it has found success catering to top advisors who wish to have their own independent regulated entity with the support of experienced professionals.
At the time of the acquisition, Sanctuary stated that the firms would operate as distinct entities, maintaining their existing brands and leadership teams. Three months have passed since the deal was announced, and we caught up with Sanctuary’s President, Bob Walters, about that strategy and the long-term prospects for the expanded firm.
DWN: Now that the dust has settled, how is the integration of the two firms going?
Bob Walter: Since we decided early in our discussions to keep the two firms operating as their brands under their existing leadership teams, we see our job as more of an alignment of the two firms than an integration. Using the term integration connotes cost-cutting, forced synergies and job cuts. That’s not the approach we have taken.
The alignment of the firms is going extremely well. There are a number of similarities between them and compatible cultures, so that gives us a great head start. We have spent the first few months getting to know each other and building relationships, especially among the respective leadership teams.
Business development and advisor recruiting have been an early focus for alignment. By bringing our firms together, we offer advisors a real unbiased choice on how to affiliate, which is unique in this industry. Our teams are aligning to ensure we can share each other’s story and provide potential partner firms all they need to make the best choice for their businesses, whether it’s going to market under a shared or standalone ADV. Either way, they will benefit from our partnered independence model’s freedom, flexibility and control.
DWN: What have you learned about the strengths of the two platforms over the past few months?
Bob Walter: The strengths of each platform are impressive. We are a great cultural fit, which has become more apparent the longer we work together. The quality of talent at both organizations is outstanding. I’ve been in this business for over 30 years and always said that I’ll put Sanctuary’s team up against anybody. We have a world-class team, and I feel the same about our new colleagues at tru. The skill sets are complementary, and as we continue to work together, the alignment will grow and produce significant results. The tru team is strong in many areas, including compliance. We will be able to leverage those strengths across the network. Sanctuary’s strengths include its larger scale, more robust architecture and curated solutions for advisors. Sanctuary also provides tru with an in-house brokerage platform for the first time. By bringing on tru, we grew from $32 billion in assets to $44 billion overnight. That gives us the ability to invest in improving the advisor and end-client experiences with greater purchasing power and economies of scale to negotiate better terms with our service providers and pass savings along to our partner firms. That’s a considerable strength of the acquisition.
DWN: As you look toward future alignment between the firms, are tru advisors looking for different solutions that could cause you to reevaluate what you’re offering to all partner firms?
Bob Walter: We continually evaluate our solutions and tech stack to ensure Sanctuary has the best platform for elite advisors running sophisticated businesses. We recently brought fintech leader and visionary Bob Coppola on board to align best-in-class technology with expertise to fuel the growth and success of our partner firms.
In our meetings with tru advisors, we’ve found that their businesses are similar to those at Sanctuary. They serve high-net-worth individuals, families and business owners, each with unique and often complex wealth management needs. We built our comprehensive suite of solutions based on input from our advisors, so it’s no surprise that tru partner firms are looking for the same services and support we currently offer and will continue to enhance. As we work through the alignment of the firms over the next few months, tru advisors will be able to leverage more of the Sanctuary solutions into their practices.
