Headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, Syndicated Capital, Inc. is a boutique Broker-Dealer that services independent Registered Representatives and Registered Investment Advisors with branch locations throughout the country. Founded in 1991, Syndicated Capital today serves more than 85 Reps around the country whose practices range from mutual funds, to comprehensive financial planning, private placements, options, and more. Collectively, these Reps oversee more than $500 million and represent a diverse clientele including institutions, high net worth individuals, and even recent college graduates. The firm has been effective in managing its compliance and administrative tasks through an efficient support staff ratio of almost 1/20, but as compliance regulations and costs have grown, the firm has looked to technology to streamline the process.

Challenge: The cost of addressing the mounting list of compliance regulations is growing faster than most firms’ net income. “FINRA has a lot of good intentions, but they translate into a lot of paperwork, which is particularly burdensome for small Broker-Dealers. To use a recent example, Rule 2821 alone will force us to hire two additional staff to keep up with the added administrative tasks and paperwork,” said Faith Lee, President of Syndicated Capital. Syndicated Capital determined early on that technology was clearly the most effective and cost efficient way to address the problem, but that there was a scarcity of platforms that offered a complete approach. “In 2004 we found a technology company that could help streamline our operations, but they were acquired by another firm and their focus changed. Since then, we had not found another solution that met our needs until we discovered E*Assist,” added Lee.

Solution: “Our top priority in selecting a technology partner was that we find a scalable solution that could deliver a complete approach. We did not want to address just a single regulation or component of our business. We were looking for an all inclusive program that could manage all business processes: compliance, sales, operations, and supervision. Once we sat down with E*Assist, we realized we had found the right technology partner. Their platform offers a scalable technology that delivers an end-to-end automated solution for integrating back office data, compliance tasks and client records into a single platform” Lee explained.

Outcome: Syndicated Capital’s implementation and adoption of E*Assist’s platform has been very successful. “E*Assist has been extremely flexible in customizing their programs to meet our unique demands and engineering on the fly as needs arise. They are able to keep pace and even anticipate problems - as well as their solutions - so that they can be addressed quickly with minimal interruptions,” Lee exclaimed. By mandating the use of the program for everyone in the firm, Syndicated Capital is able to create uniformity and consistency, as well as greater efficiency from their Reps. “Naturally, some Reps are somewhat reluctant to adopt the new platform, but once they start using it, they appreciate the efficiency of the process. Not only does it save them time, but for many Reps it saves them thousands of dollars per year, by reducing the majority of required mailings to the home office,” Lee explained. The next step is to implement training to expedite adoption and maximize the user experience for our Reps. “We are currently in the process of strategizing with E*Assist to roll-out training programs. It has been very helpful to have their assistance with driving internal adoption. Their work with our Reps to optimize usage underscores E*Assist’s commitment to a successful, ongoing relationship,” Lee concluded.