Welcome to our November Broker-Dealer Newsletter.
Below, I would like to share a few thoughts on the evolving role of the banker in our information-overloaded modern business environment.
Then, Michelle Mueller will provide compliance updates (including a “Save the Date” for our annual compliance meeting!), and Zaya Bold will do so for collaboration.
To all of our success!
The Evolving Role of the Investment Banker – Getting Personal
I don’t need to tell the highly experienced bankers on the GTS platform that our business has changed.
In some ways, it has changed so profoundly as to require a re-calibration and re-definition of what a boutique banker’s “brand” stands for and what their value-add actually is.
I would shorthand these changes with the thought that we are tasked more and more with being business “Change Agents” in addition to our more traditional role as “Deal Jockeys.”
You see, in the “good old days” we could provide significant client value by researching and sharing recent deals data and then offering insight and advice as to valuation multiples and transaction probabilities.
Bankers are of course still expected to do this, but also to contextualize the deals data into unique strategic realities and leadership ambitions of the client company.
For example, to increase the likelihood of a successful financing or sale transaction, a banker might advise a manufacturing company prospect to diversify its product lines, develop more of a recurring revenue service business, and / or explore overseas markets.
And…bankers are now also expected to put on their consulting and “accountability” hats and help catalyze these needed business shifts and pivots.
Advisory work like this often needs to be done not just before but also during a traditional “deal jockeying” process because if it isn’t – especially in this challenging market environment – deals don’t just get done,
Oh, and this is not all. We are also asked to get a lot more “personal” with our clients than ever before.
As in advising clients – as is traditional – on the values of their business assets and future income streams but also placing those values in the context of the “personal” wealth, lifestyle, and risk considerations, more typically the domain of wealth advisors and financial planners.
Considerations like:
- Tax scenario planning and advice in the event of a business sale,
- Where and how to invest sale proceeds (i.e., in some combination of traditional public market stock / bond portfolios, real estate, cash, etc.); and
- Perhaps most emotionally resonating – painting a post-transaction work and game plan that goes far beyond the dated and trite “sit on a beach and drink Mai Tais” that rarely works anymore for any businessperson worth their salt.
GT Investment Management
As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, the value of these “personal plus business” kinds of dialogues and relationships is a core reason why GT Securities has established an affiliated Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) partner firm.
To learn more about how adding an investment advisory credential (the Series 65) and know-how to your banking practice might make sense for you in the New Year, I encourage you to contact Mr. Randy Fox, our RIA’s COO, at [email protected].
Compliance Updates
Annual Compliance Meeting Save the Date! The Firm’s Annual Compliance Meeting will be held via web conference on Friday, December 8th, from 12 pm PT – 2 pm PT. Per FINRA rules, attendance for all GT Securities Registered Persons is mandatory.
FINRA Reg CE Reminder. A reminder that effective Jan. 1, 2023, FINRA rules require Registered Representatives to complete their continuing education (CE) Regulatory Element annually by Dec. 31. Resources:
– Michelle Mueller, Chief Compliance Officer
Platform Resources and Deals
Deal Collaboration. We share select deals with our affiliate network via email distribution for collaboration. Please feel free to reach out to me with a deal summary to explore synergies in further detail.
Resources. As an affiliate of GT Securities, you have complimentary access to various research platforms: Family Offices Database, IBISWorld, and Hoovers & Statista.
Additionally, analyst and associate-level deal execution support is provided through Evalueserve
– Zaya Bold, Director of Banking Partnerships
Happy November to All!
