Fintel Services, whose parent owns Simplybiz and Threesixty, is launching a new proposition to connect suitable buyers and sellers as part of an initiative to help Financial Planners and advisers retiring or looking to exit their business.
The Affinity Programme will be available later this year to adviser firms who use the compliance, technology, and business support services of Fintel’s businesses.
The firm said it has been developed following the findings of last year’s FCA Consolidation Review, emphasising the necessity of scalable compliance, risk, and governance frameworks and the need to explore and handle potential conflicts of interest within acquiring firms.
It has been designed around the principles of proper preparation, quality matching, and independence by Fintel, to connect buyers and sellers while ensuring clients are looked after for the long-term. It said the programme focusses upon achieving the right outcome for advice firms and their clients.
Alex Whitson, CEO of Fintel Services, said: "Often succession conversations are informal, reactive, and decided by whoever calls first - not by who's the right fit. Fintel acts as an independent facilitator for firms. The way we have structured the Affinity Programme helps mitigate potential conflicts of interest, ensuring our focus remains on finding the right long-term outcome for firms and the clients they serve.”
He said sellers using the programme will receive an assessment of exit readiness, what needs to change, and how to maximise the value of what they have built. The service will also include consultancy on each seller’s client bank and business model, and introductions to buyers who have completed a structured buyer check and profile.
Buyers using the programme will be given a structured profiling process designed to help them demonstrate their worth to sellers, and access to better-prepared opportunities via a structured model, prioritising the quality of introductions. Buyers will also receive compliance and due diligence support.
Mr Whitson said: “Too many advisers spend years building something they're genuinely proud of, then find their acquirer isn't quite the right fit for them or their clients. The Affinity Programme is about changing that.”