DPL Financial Partners acquiring AnnuityFix to help breakaway advisors retain annuity assets and better serve clients

Founder Grant Johnstone joins RIA insurance platform as CCO

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DPL Financial Partners, the leading commission-free insurance platform for RIAs, today announced that it is acquiring AnnuityFix and its affiliated broker-dealer, Johnstone Brokerage Services. The acquisition enhances DPL’s Breakaway Accelerator program, which allows financial advisors to transition their legacy annuity business to a fee-based business model, enabling many to go completely independent. DPL appointed AnnuityFix Founder Grant Johnstone as chief compliance officer and chief legal officer and said the firm’s employees will join DPL.

“Annuities are often the last asset class tethering advisors to their broker-dealer,” said DPL Founder and CEO David Lau. “Since launching our Breakaway Accelerator late last year, we’ve begun working with scores of breakaway teams and rollups to transition annuity books. It’s exciting to welcome Grant and his deep experience serving the unique needs of the RIA industry and to create expanded capacity with Grant’s team and process.”

DPL’s Breakaway Accelerator provides advisors transitioning to a fee-only model with a process and technology to evaluate each client’s annuity holdings to determine whether it is beneficial for the client to exchange them for one of the dozens of commission-free products on the DPL platform. In cases where favorable terms or features mean keeping an existing commissioned annuity is in the client’s best interest, DPL helps transition those policies from the advisor’s existing broker-dealer.

“I’m excited to combine the expertise of the AnnuityFix team with DPL’s market-leading, turnkey solution for transitioning breakaway annuity assets,” said Johnstone. “It’s a huge win for the advisor and client, both of whom will benefit from DPL’s commission-free product offerings and proprietary technology for evaluating, transitioning and managing large blocks of annuity assets.”

The acquisition will be finalized pending regulatory approval.

About DPL Financial Partners

DPL Financial Partners is the leading insurance marketplace bringing best-in-class solutions from the nation's top carriers to registered investment advisors (RIAs), their clients and consumers. DPL's products, proprietary tools and embedded technology enable RIAs to incorporate insurance and annuities into their practices to more holistically serve their clients. Clients benefit from products that offer competitive pricing and transparent, fiduciary implementation to meet a range of needs in the financial plan. www.dplfp.com