LPL and Raymond James lead in recruiting as M&A deals and new appointments show coronavirus impact

LPL Financial and Raymond James Financial Services have galloped ahead of their recruiting rivals, but the coronavirus is casting uncertainty on moves across the entire industry.

Independent broker-dealers have unveiled around 50 recruiting moves so far in 2020, according to Financial Planning’s analysis of press releases issued by the firms. None of the moves occurred in April, though, according to FINRA BrokerCheck records. In another sign of the pandemic’s economic impact, Blucora’s pending RIA acquisition has a new, much lower price.

The firms’ disclosed data have some limitations. The announcements often lag formal changes of affiliation by months, and publicly traded firms are much more likely than privately held ones to share news of financial advisors joining the fold. Other entries in the 40 news items below from the IBD sector came in the form of executive appointments and platform launches.

Still, the recruiting announcements span more than 100 advisors managing $9 billion in client assets who opted for new BD affiliations in the first quarter. Their moves display a sampling of the flow of assets that make up the lifeblood of the independent wealth management channel.

LPL has said it added at least 59 newly recruited registered representatives with about $4 billion in client assets, while Raymond James has announced more than 20 recruits to its IBD channel with $2.8 billion. Other active firms on the advisor recruiting trail have included Kestra Financial (7 advisors with $650 million) and Waddell & Reed (10 reps with $575 million).

On the other hand, some normally strong rivals have been absent. Ameriprise has only publicly disclosed one new recruit to its franchise channel in 2020 while competitors have attracted eight ex-Ameriprise reps with $1 billion in client assets. The nine Advisor Group IBDs have seen more than 25 advisors go to LPL without reporting any new recruits to the network this year.

Each of the figures noted below come from company announcements. The dates of the new BD affiliations refer to formal public records maintained by FINRA rather than the timing of the announcement.

To see notable recruiting moves and other news in the IBD channel in the past six weeks, scroll down the slideshow below. For a sense of how the sector previously looked, see “Fierce IBD competition: 27 moves, M&A deals — and even the Rolling Stones.”