Carrick Partners: Growing The Financial Industry

A franchise-oriented company that taps into the wealth of rural South Africa, Carrick Partners also offers a lifeline for smaller financial brokerages that can grow their practices with solid support and reduced risk.  

When Carrick CEO Craig Featherby discovered that 88% of financial services firms that went out of business in the last 10 years simply closed their doors, he was shocked. “They didn’t sell their practice, because it wasn’t sellable,” he says. “The biggest problem facing smaller financial brokerages is that they don’t have an exit strategy. In addition, many are struggling with the cost of doing business, from administration and marketing to compliance and the financial resources to embrace technology.” 

As Carrick does not have representation outside of the metros, an idea for a franchise-type company that taps into the wealth of rural South Africa while supporting local financial firms was seeded and, in December 2020, Carrick Partners launched.  

Carrick Partners assists existing advisors and financial advisory firms in growing their advisory practice via Carrick’s global wealth management offering, inclusive of financial planning, asset management, international property, foreign exchange and fiduciary services. In addition, it offers enhanced operational support in the form of dedicated compliance, human resources, marketing and administrative functions. This means that the partner firms can increase revenue and assets under management, with reduced risk and complexity. 

“This is an exclusive and exciting opportunity for independent advisory firms and advisors,” says General Manager Fred van Niekerk. “Their clients will no longer be restricted to local markets and local product provision only and it will provide so many more South Africans with access to offshore investment and wealth management. The key to any relationship, and in particular to a Carrick Partners relationship, is for all parties to offer their best in creating an environment for mutual growth. Carrick is the recognised market leader for global product provision and advice, and our partners are established financial advisory firms with existing relationships in the communities they serve. When we combine these, we facilitate growth through enhanced service and product offerings.” 

There are three fundamental pillars of assistance: 

1. Increase revenue, assets under management and client experience 

• Access to Carrick’s global wealth management offering and financial planning solutions, inclusive of offshore and onshore solutions
• Lead generation with defined return on investment parameters
• Market-leading marketing and brand building support 
• Bespoke training and development programs

2. Decrease costs, risk and complexity 

• Enhanced compliance support focused on practice management solution
• Access to Carrick Prime, a complete enterprise management software solution for advisors and clients
• Dedicated paraplanners and business administration support

3. Future-proof the firm and their clients’ future 

• Client servicing structures ensuring clients always receive the best advice 
• Carrick book buy back option to allow for an efficient exit strategy 
• Access to research and development on product, client trends and industry insights.

“The idea is to onboard three partner practices per quarter over the course of the next five years, building it to 60 partner practices by the end of 2025,” says Featherby. “Down the line if any of those partners retire or want to sell, we are able to offer them an exit strategy. We anticipate that by Q2 of 2021 we would have onboarded our first three partner practices.” 

“Financial practitioners who are interested in partnering with us, can contact Carrick to set up a meeting to start the conversation and discuss the fundamentals involved,” says van Niekerk.