Raymond James Launches Succession Planning Platform

Raymond James says it has rolled out a succession planning platform for its roughly 8,400 financial advisors.

Practice Exchange, a cloud-based platform, aims to serve as a “one-stop location for M&A tools, prospective buyer/seller matching and succession planning education,” according to the firm. Some of its features focus on valuation and financing, consulting, catastrophic succession planning (which includes the identification of potential successors), and secure information sharing.

“We’re committed to developing the support resources financial advisors need to plan for their clients’ financial futures, and for the future of their own practices,” said Scott Curtis, Private Client Group president, in a statement. “Building on our long-established succession and acquisition consulting support, we’re introducing this application to streamline and facilitate the succession planning process for advisors.”

According to project manager Laura Jane Powell: “The response from our financial advisors throughout the collaborative process to build and roll out Practice Exchange has been very positive. As more financial advisors leverage the platform to plan for the future, our team will incorporate their feedback to enhance and evolve Practice Exchange, while deepening our suite of consulting services, using the platform as part of a strategic succession plan.”

Advisor Gautam Muthusamy says he and additional advisors in the “fragmented” business of financial advice have “paid for other marketplace access and believe this could supplement or even replace those tools. … Finding a successor to relationships spanning 20 or 30 years is no small task and having the Raymond James team part of our past acquisitions has helped build trust.”