United Advisor Group Launches as RIA Aggregator

What You Need to Know

New RIA aggregator United Advisor Group selected Goldman Sachs Advisor Solutions as its custody service provider.
The news came as Goldman said Joe Duran was stepping down as a Goldman Sachs partner and co-head of its Personal Financial Management Group to become a consultant to the firm as it continues its effort to become a top RIA custodian.
UAG wants to grow its AUM to more than $750 million within the next 12 months, it said.

As United Advisor Group officially launched its independent registered investment advisor on Monday, the new RIA aggregator said it selected Goldman Sachs Advisor Solutions as its custody service provider.

UAG “will bring together multiple founding advisors from a variety of independent broker-dealers and registered investment advisors in a unified, single-tier partnership model,” the company said in a news release.

In addition to the initial partners transitioning to UAG, it intends to add more advisors, growing its cumulative assets under management to more than $750 million within the next 12 months, according to the group.

UAG declined to identify any of the founding advisors from independent BDs and RIAs.

The firm was “designed with a unique structure to benefit its partners and advisors who are running their own businesses,” UAG said. “The founders have structured the organization to facilitate collaboration with like-minded advisors, avoiding the potential issues that can arise from traditional business models.”

“As an RIA, it is our responsibility to provide solutions in a fiduciary capacity. Goldman Sachs stands out among custodians in providing the highest quality and broadest range of resources, tools, and research that cannot be found elsewhere,” Ray Gettins, UAG director, said in the statement.

Explaining why the group selected Goldman as its custodian, he said the move “furthers our ability to carry out our mission to give mid-sized, well-run practices access to resources that would otherwise be out of reach.”