Three of the largest recruiting moves and deals in the independent broker-dealer channel so far this year have involved leaving the sector completely or only joining it in a tangential way.
Some 100 recruiting announcements tracked by Financial Planning, which encompass more than 400 advisors with $26 billion in client assets, display the fierce competition for indie advisors. The 34 recruiting moves, MA deals, strategic partnerships and research in the roundup below show IBDs aren’t exactly resting on their laurels against the threat of the full RIA channel.
IBDs are bulking up their technology platforms and growing through acquisitions. Case in point: LPL’s second deal in a month to purchase a small family-owned firm. Independent broker-dealers are also recruiting heavily. LPL, for example, has announced more than 200 incoming advisors with $10.2 billion in client assets this year. In the publicly traded firm’s first-quarter earnings, it also disclosed $8.4 billion in recruited client assets.
Even so, IBDs have found themselves on the outside looking in — or playing only a small role — in some of the biggest moves thus far in 2020.
Four advisors with $1.6 billion in client assets dropped Cetera Financial Group to fold into RIA consolidator Captrust last month.
And a wirehouse breakaway team with $1.2 billion went indie from UBS in May with the Dynasty Financial Partners platform. The practice retained a brokerage relationship with what is referred to in the industry as a “friendly BD,” in this case Purshe Kaplan Sterling Investments.
A third megamove took business away from the IBD sector and left LPL playing a bit part. In April, an LPL hybrid RIA called Wealth Enhancement Group purchased a former Securian Financial team with $1.3 billion in client assets. The co-founders have dropped their FINRA registrations, but LPL serves as one of the RIA’s five custodians.
Scroll through to see the most recent recruiting news and other notable industry items.
Note: The dates listed in each recruiting move are from official FINRA BrokerCheck records rather than the day of the company’s announcement.
For a recap on where things stood at the end of last month, click here. To see 34 recruiting moves and other news in the indie channel since then, scroll down our slideshow.
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