Dylan Ferreira, buythebook
Buythebook is aimed at disrupting and reshaping how financial service professionals buy, sell and scale their businesses.
Ferreira expanded his business through the acquisition of two mortgage books and found sourcing and buying professional services books a hit and miss affair, with transactions happening behind closed doors without structure, transparency or a fair benchmark in value.
“If advisers want to retire, or leave the industry for other reasons, and sell their books there isn’t a standardised process for what that looks like,” he says.
“Buyers are left in the dark. Until now buyers, often spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, have been tied up for hours looking at manual spreadsheets while relying on information from the adviser, aggregator or CRM provider. It is a huge risk, if the buyer does not have clarity on all the information.”
After scouring the world for a web-based system that could be adapted for a single marketplace, Ferreira realised he would have to start to scratch as there was nothing available to provide a trusted, efficient and intelligent platform for the industry, initially in New Zealand and Australia and then for global expansion.
“There isn’t anything like this that brings all the moving parts together on one platform.”
Using his 16 years’ mortgage industry knowledge, he has partnered with a technology company using its AI and machine learning expertise to create a purpose-built marketplace that gives New Zealand and Australian advisers the tools to buy, sell, fund, and scale, all on one secure and intelligent platform.
Ferreira is in the process of getting patents to protect his intellectual property as he intends keeping the company under his ownership as it becomes a global entity.
How it works
Site users need to have an AML verified profile to avoid fake books and offers being posted.
They are notified when a book becomes available within their search criteria.
A high-level dashboard overview of the book is made available before a potential buyer can access a secure data room to do a deep dive into trail and non-trail income, client database, past 24-month settlements, claw-back liabilities and other information.
If that piques their interest, they can ask more questions or book a video call through the platform.
If they want to buy the book, they make a conditional or unconditional offer through the site that is sent to the seller to review.
All data received by buythebook from the seller and aggregator is in its raw format with client information redacted, so there is no possibility of identification. Any purchase offer is made on that basis, Ferreira says.
“What we have created is a transparent product that is fair and equitable for everyone.”
Taking off
At this stage, buythebook is taking books at any value while it builds the site out.
Within 24 hours of launching there was already one mortgage book for sale, while two insurance books are likely to go live in the next few weeks, plus another mortgage book and potentially a small wealth book.
“That’s up to five books in the first five to six weeks of operation, which is good from a seller’s perspective,” Ferreria says.
While there will always be more buyers than books for sale, Ferreira says research he carried out before the launch showed a lot of inquiry from a mortgage perspective, but proportionate to the number of advisers, wealth books seem to be what most people are interested in.
This is in line with the great wealth transfer to take place over the next decade as baby boomers become the biggest retirement cohort and die off.
Beyond books
To help businesses Ferreira has arranged a funding line and is building a product for this.
The aim is to ultimately have multiple lenders and an in-house facility.
The existing funding line is limited in its capacity in the meantime – not necessarily from a dollar figure, but in terms of building the product, he says.
“However, it will eventually be a major part of the business. We won’t just be fundin potential new purchases but could be funding business growth as well.
“If an adviser has an existing trail book they want to leverage, we can help fund growth in their business, whether that is hiring staff, leasing premises, or whatever they need, instead of just looking at acquisitions.”
And part of what we’re building with the machine learning is to see how people transact. The more data we get from aggregators, the more likely it is that we can fund trail and the more likely it is we can help the adviser industry grow.”
At its heart
Ferreira says at the core of buythebook he genuinely wants to help advisers.
“We already face enough headwinds, from banks, AI, increasing compliance, and growing competition.
“My goal is to learn from others, share efficiencies across onshore and offshore operations, and ensure that when someone chooses to exit the industry, they do so with clarity and the best return possible.”
He has already had overwhelmingly positive feedback from advisers and aggregators about the platform and its possibilities.
Although he had market validation at the early concept stage, Ferreira says when he decided to “pull the trigger in March and give it a red hot crack” it was to change the function of the financial services industry.
“It’s taken five months to get here with big challenges along with way and I am sure we will continue to face challenges. But we will learn and grow.”
To deliver on the scale and ambition of buythebook, Ferreira is building a high-calibre leadership team of individuals with deep industry knowledge, commercial acumen, and a shared commitment to reshaping the financial services landscape.
He is surrounding himself with people who bring capability, integrity, and vision, ensuring the platform expands with purpose and resilience.
Importantly, Ferreira wants advisers to be part of the this and is inviting feedback and collaboration as the platform evolves. “This was built for advisers, so it’s only right they help shape it,” he says.
