Fieldpoint Private’s Banking Partnership Model Signals New Opportunities for the Independent Advisor Community

Fieldpoint’s collaboration with Summit Financial and Merchant Investment Management integrates private banking as a holistically advised, white-glove offering through independent advisors

GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fieldpoint Private’s Advisor Banking Services platform represents a new model that will enable independent advisors to deliver truly holistic wealth management services encompassing a full suite of private banking offerings. Made possible by a recent partnership between Fieldpoint Private, Summit Financial Holdings (Summit) and Merchant Investment Management (Merchant), the platform is unique in the industry.

In the collaboration, Summit and Merchant will acquire the assets of Fieldpoint’s investment advisory unit, and Fieldpoint Private’s banking services will be delivered through Summit’s advisor services platform, SummitVantage. When the transition completes, Fieldpoint’s wealth management business will boost Summit to approximately $12 billion in assets, more than doubling the client base served by Fieldpoint’s banking services today.

Fieldpoint and its partners are also engineering a subsequent phase of the partnership, with the potential to reach a clientele orders of magnitude larger than the initial collaboration. Merchant Investment Management, a capital partner to Summit, represents a network of independent advisors with approximately $100 billion in client investment assets under management.

Ultimately, Fieldpoint’s Advisor Banking Services will be available to the entirety of the independent registered investment advisor community, comprised of more than 14,000 firms managing nearly $5 trillion in client assets, by far the fastest growing segment in wealth management.

In addition to the significant growth opportunity, Fieldpoint Private Executive Chairman Tim Tully believes the partnership will offer significant upside for clients. “Wealth management by definition must embrace both sides of the client’s balance sheet, or it is incomplete,” he said. “Today, clients working with independent advisors must look outside their most trusted financial relationships for support on banking and lending. This partnership exemplifies how the profession should be practiced – planning-based, with trusted advisors at the center of the discussion, where they belong.”

Russ Holland, President and CEO of Fieldpoint’s banking unit, said the partnership is less a departure from the advisory business than a new way of expanding the firm’s impact across more advisors and their client relationships. He added that Fieldpoint’s custom approach is a very different model compared to fintech banking plugins and other arrangements sometimes available to independent advisors. “From day one we have been a boutique private bank that lives and breathes banking and lending as part of the holistic wealth advisory experience,” he said. “We are proud to lock arms with Summit and Merchant in this important initiative.”

Christopher DeLaura, CEO of Fieldpoint’s wealth advisory business, who will continue to lead the unit’s teams within Summit, sees the agreement as an extraordinary commitment to the independent advisory space. “Independence is the future of wealth advice, and I’m convinced our collective venture is the future of independence.”

Stan Gregor, Chairman and CEO of Summit, noted that independent advisors have not had a solution to provide their clients with truly holistic investment and banking services. “The experience and advice have been disjointed and bifurcated - investments with the advisor, banking somewhere else,” said Gregor. “Our partnership will provide a fully integrated service experience to advisors and their clients, with full reporting connectivity and dedicated private bankers. I’ve not seen anything that approaches this.”

About Fieldpoint Private

Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, Fieldpoint Private (www.fieldpointprivate.com) has more than $1.3 billion in bank assets and $5.1 billion in total wealth management assets. The firm provides personalized, custom wealth planning and private banking services. Catering to successful individuals, families, entrepreneurs, businesses and institutions, Fieldpoint Private offers a reciprocal combination of wealth management and strategy, family office, private banking and business banking services. Through a comprehensive understanding of our clients’ individual financial circumstances we furnish unbiased advice and personal service to free up the one resource that regardless of means no one can ever have enough of: time.

Banking Services: Fieldpoint Private Bank & Trust. Member FDIC.

Registered Investment Advisors: Fieldpoint Private Securities, LLC, is a SEC Registered Investment Advisor and Broker Dealer. Member FINRA, MSRB, SIPC.