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Sanctuary Wealth
Sanctuary Wealth was founded in 2015 by Jim Dickson, who spent 19 years at Merrill Lynch, most recently as a managing director overseeing national business...
Sanctuary Wealth
Sanctuary Wealth was founded in 2015 by Jim Dickson, who spent 19 years at Merrill Lynch, most recently as a managing director overseeing national business development. The firm emerged from his conviction that wirehouse advisors seeking independence needed more than custody and compliance — they required the same institutional-grade product shelf and capital markets access they left behind. Sanctuary's model pairs a corporate RIA with a broker-dealer affiliate, allowing partner firms to operate under their own brand while tapping shared resources. Sanctuary operates as a multi-custodial, multi-clearing platform, giving its network of approximately 120 partner firms across the United States access to equities, fixed income, structured products, alternative investments, and private placements. The platform's investment banking group, Sanctuary Securities, underwrites and distributes new issues, a capability vanishingly rare among independent wealth aggregators. Confirmed partner firms include Infinex Financial Group and advisors formerly with UBS and Morgan Stanley who transitioned via Sanctuary's breakaway program. The firm's geographic reach spans the Midwest, Northeast, and Sunbelt, with a concentration in secondary markets. As of September 2024, Azimut Group, the publicly traded Italian asset manager, acquired a controlling stake in Sanctuary for an undisclosed sum, valuing the platform as a US distribution hub for Azimut's global alternatives products (per InvestmentNews, September 2024). Jim Dickson remained CEO post-acquisition, and the firm's operational independence was preserved. Sanctuary disclosed approximately $25 billion in platform assets at the time of the deal. The firm has not disclosed total advisor headcount or aggregate revenue. Sanctuary's structural differentiator is its hybrid RIA–broker-dealer architecture, which also houses an SEC-registered investment bank. This tripartite design lets partner advisors offer syndicated IPOs, follow-on offerings, and private placements alongside managed accounts and financial planning. No other breakaway platform at Sanctuary's scale combines these three licenses under one roof, positioning it as a capital-markets-enabled aggregator rather than a pure RIA roll-up.
General information
Firm type
Bank / Wealth / Trust
Year founded
2015
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Columbus
Corporate office
Columbus, OH, United States
Principals
Jim Dickson
CEO & Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
How does Sanctuary Wealth's platform structure differ from a typical independent RIA aggregator?
Sanctuary operates a hybrid model that combines a corporate RIA with an affiliated broker-dealer and an SEC-registered investment bank, Sanctuary Securities. This lets partner advisors offer capital-raising services, syndicated offerings, and new-issue access alongside traditional fee-based wealth management. Most breakaway platforms focus on custody and compliance only, without the broker-dealer or investment banking capabilities.
Who runs investment decisions and platform strategy at Sanctuary Wealth?
Founder Jim Dickson sets overall strategy as CEO, a role he retained after the 2024 acquisition by Azimut Group. Investment decisions for client portfolios rest with the individual partner firms, while Sanctuary's investment banking group manages underwriting and deal distribution centrally.
What does the Azimut Group acquisition mean for Sanctuary's independence and product shelf?
Azimut's September 2024 controlling-stake acquisition injects institutional capital and gives Sanctuary's advisors a path to distribute Azimut's global alternative investment products. The firm stated operational independence was preserved under the deal, with Jim Dickson continuing as CEO and day-to-day leadership unchanged.
What types of advisors does Sanctuary typically recruit?
Sanctuary targets established wirehouse teams, primarily from Merrill Lynch, UBS, and Morgan Stanley, who want to go independent but retain institutional capabilities. The firm markets itself as a 'breakaway' destination for advisors managing substantial books — typically teams with significant assets under management seeking better economics without sacrificing product access.
Does Sanctuary Wealth offer proprietary investment products?
Through its broker-dealer and investment banking unit, Sanctuary can distribute proprietary new issues and structured products. Post-acquisition, Azimut's suite of international alternatives — including private equity, private credit, and real assets — is expected to flow through the platform, although Sanctuary has not historically manufactured its own asset management products.
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