LPL, Stifel, Riskalyze; plus record-breaking scholarships, annuity sales growth and tech news

January 28, 2022 1:40 PM

Changing How Individuals Prosper (CHIP) has launched a new publication for Black and Latino financial professionals and their clients. Annuity sales hit a 14-year high. The Center for Financial Planning set a new record for scholarships awarded in 2021. Advisors were on the move. See where they landed and who is in new leadership roles.

Scroll through to find what you might have missed this week in financial planning news.

LPL Financial’s Strategic Wealth Services program, which offers independence with an elevated layer of services from the corporate office, this week unveiled two new teams that left Commonwealth Financial Network and Wells Fargo Advisors. The two teams managed a combined $625 million in client assets with their prior firms, and moves make 21 teams that have joined Strategic Wealth Services since LPL launched it in 2020. Advisors Andy Walker and Christan Covey, as well as Director of Client Services Rebecca McEntire, launched Orem, Utah-based Walker Covey Wealth Advisors after leaving Commonwealth. Fellow advisors Pat Clifford and Tyler Lewis, along with Director of Planning Karen Vaughan and Director of Client Relations Sherryl Miles, started Tyler, Texas-based Clifford-Lewis Private Wealth after exiting Wells Fargo. “We raise the bar every year and expect to always get better. But we were starting to feel a bit constrained, and recognized our team didn’t fit into any one box,” Vaughan said in a statement. “In order to reach a higher level of excellence and excel in areas we’re passionate about, including financial planning, we needed to be independent.”

Changing How Individuals Prosper (CHIP) CEO Dana Wilson and Carson Group director of coaching and advisor content Ana Trujillo Limón launched The Brief, a quarterly online publication featuring Black and Latino financial professionals and clients. The first issue went live on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. CHIP will use the financial services marketplace for Black and Latino professionals and prospective clients to elevate their voices further. Both Wilson and Trujillo Limón bring substantial media acumen to the project, with Wilson a board member and partner in a media firm and Trujillo Limón a former editor of the Journal of Financial Planning. “There are a lot of people doing amazing things in this industry that you don’t necessarily know their names or their faces,” Wilson said in a statement. “We wanted to make sure that people knew their names and faces.”

Cetera Financial Group’s largest brokerage, Cetera Advisor Networks, has a new leader at the helm after surpassing $1 billion in revenue for the first time in 2021. Cetera’s previous head of wealth management, Tim Stinson, is now president of Advisor Networks, replacing Tom Taylor, who will be the chief sales and growth officer on a full-time basis across all five of Cetera’s brokerages. “Tim Stinson and Tom Taylor are outstanding professionals and individuals whose contributions to Cetera cannot be overstated,” Cetera CEO Adam Antoniades said in a statement. “Their work will forge an even brighter future for the Cetera Advisor Networks community and the entire Cetera organization. We look forward to their continued leadership and strategic guidance as we grow our business and serve our financial professional communities in 2022 and beyond.”

Investor services firm IQ-EQ started a new program called Launchpad providing “preferential service terms, tailored fund administration solutions, capacity building and access to a global network” for funds with ownership that’s at least 50% women or that has 50% female founders, according to the firm. “As a leading member of the fund ecosystem we believe that we can play an important role in addressing the gender imbalance within the asset management industry,” Serge Krancenblum, group executive chairman at IQ-EQ, said in a statement. “We have leveraged our business model and contacts to put together a comprehensive support package that will help first-time women fund managers to succeed.”

Annuity sales reached their highest level in 14 years in 2021, according to preliminary estimates from industry research organization LIMRA’s Secure Retirement Institute. Sales jumped by 16% year-over-year to $254.8 billion, fueled by a strong fourth quarter and massive growth in variable annuity contracts and registered index-linked annuities. “We have not seen traditional VA sales growth at this level in over a decade. Heightened concern about potential changes to the tax code drove growth in investment-focused, non-qualified product sales,” Todd Giesing, the assistant vice president of SRI Annuity Research said in a statement. “In 2021, fee-based products experienced the largest gains as registered investment advisors and broker-dealers sought out tax-deferral solutions for their clients.”

Radnor, Pennsylvania-based Surgent Accounting & Financial Education has increased the size of The Paul Wiese Bridge Builder Scholarship Award for business students in accounting or finance-related majors who have attended an accredited college or university within the U.S. In addition to receiving a scholarship of $2,500 — $1,000 more than last year —recipients will be able to access a free Surgent review course of their choice toward getting their CPA, CMA, EA or SIE certifications. After awarding more than $400,000 in scholarships in 2021, the company named the award after a team member who passed away last year. "Paul Wiese cared deeply about educating the next generation of accounting and finance professionals, and though he left us far too soon, he made a huge impression on the industry that I know will live on for years to come," Surgent Executive Vice President Elizabeth Kolar said in a statement. "We are honored to rename our scholarship program in Paul's memory."

Three teams spanning five advisors and $667 million in combined client assets left Wells Fargo Advisors; Hornor, Townsend & Kent; and Principal Securities for Advisor Group brokerages. Jersey City, New Jersey-based advisors Matt Feehan and Jon Shore affiliated with Royal Alliance Associates as their brokerage and Innovative Financial Group as their office of supervisory jurisdiction. In the other moves, advisors Gerald Kleber, Dustin Carr and Tad Lyle aligned with SagePoint Financial as their brokerage and The AmeriFlex Group as their hybrid RIA and office of supervisory jurisdiction. “I’m thrilled that Gerald, Dustin and Tad joined us and will leverage our resources and expertise to enhance the ways they provide holistic wealth management and financial planning solutions to their clients,” SagePoint CEO Desireé Sii said in a statement. “Personally, I look forward to helping each of them reach their goals for their business and clients.”

The North American Securities Administrators Association has appointed Kristen Hutchens to be its director of policy and government affairs leading the state regulator organization’s engagement with congressional staff, investor groups, industry associations and other key stakeholders. Hutchens had previously been its deputy director of policy and government affairs after joining the organization last May following tenures with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking; the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; and in private practice. With the promotion, she replaces Michael Canning, who left NASAA to start a consulting firm last year. “On behalf of NASAA’s board of directors, I congratulate Kristen and look forward to working closely with her in advancing NASAA’s investor protection mission,” Melanie Senter Lubin, NASAA president and the Maryland securities commissioner, said in a statement.

Fee-only RIA Wealthspire Advisors has added $2 billion by integrating an RIA that’s also owned by private equity-backed insurer NFP, New York-based Lenox Wealth Advisors, into its ranks. Following the move and the close of recently announced M&A deals, Wealthspire will reach about $20 billion in client assets across 20 advisory offices nationwide. “It is important for our clients to know that the goal is providing more choices, offering a deeper investment team and continuing to improve processes and technology,” Lenox Wealth CEO Richard Van Benschoten said in a statement.

West Chester, Pennsylvania-based RIA Wealthcare, which is owned by fintech firm Financeware and its investment banking firm parent NewSpring Holdings, reached $4.8 billion in client assets after adding 18 new advisors in 2021. The RIA spans 165 advisors overall. “Our mission is to continuously improve our advisors’ lives by providing them with the infrastructure, technology and resources they need to give their clients the best experience possible,” Wealthcare President Matt Regan said in a statement. “Our ability to attract and retain high-quality advisors speaks to that commitment and we look forward to continuing to partner with our advisors to ensure that we’re fulfilling that goal.”

Insurer and annuity firm Nationwide promoted brokerage annuity distribution leader Rona Guymon to lead sales across all channels, replacing Craig Hawley after he switched to a position leading business development on the firm’s retirement solutions team last month. In the new role, the 24-year industry veteran will oversee distribution of the firm’s products at brokerages, wirehouses, banks, independent marketing organizations, RIAs and tech firms, among other strategic partners. “This is great news for Rona and Nationwide,” Nationwide Annuity President Eric Henderson said in a statement. “Her proven leadership and relentless drive will help us elevate a high-performing team, positioning it and our distribution partners for even greater success.”

EP Wealth Advisors, a fee-only RIA with backing from financial services holding company Wealth Partners Capital Group, has made its third acquisition of 2022. Newport Beach, California-based Klein Financial Advisors and the two other incoming practices have brought $1 billion in assets under management and pushed EP Wealth’s overall AUM above $15 billion. “My main goal is to instill confidence in women as they navigate life events like parenthood, divorce, remarriage, being widowed and more,” Klein founder Lauren Klein said in a statement. “I want them to feel in control of their finances by empowering them with the advice, tools and resources to help them excel amid life’s ups and downs. That’s why we partnered with EP Wealth. We look forward to the expanded services and offerings for our clients that EP will offer.”

Financial advisors Aaron Lucero and Kurt Heyduck of Coupeville, Washington-based Terra Firma Wealth Management left Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network for Stifel Independent Advisors. The practice managed $250 million in client assets at their prior firm and operations manager Nanette Streubel joined the advisors in making the switch. “After thoroughly examining many firms, Stifel was clearly the best fit for our clients and practice,” Lucero said in a statement.

Canadian asset manager CI Financial has doubled the space in its new Miami office for its U.S. wealth management arm, which has become a force in the RIA M&A marketplace since entering it at the beginning of 2020. The firm is taking 40,000 square feet across two floors in the under-construction building in the Brickell Financial District at 830 Brickell.

Stifel enticed away a Wells Fargo complex manager to help further its mission of aggressively recruiting new advisers, particularly from wirehouses.

Stifel Financial made a minority investment in LFE Capital and became a limited partner in its fourth fund under an alliance with the growth equity firm focusing on providing capital to women-owned and managed health and wellness companies. Founded in 2001 by Leslie Frecon, LFE Capital provides expansion and buyout capital for firms with revenues of $2 million to $20 million per year. “Partnering with Stifel at this stage is truly exciting,” Frecon said in a statement. “With Stifel, I believe we have found a long-term partner with the vision and capabilities to enable us to realize the full potential of our unique business model and take our firm to the next level.”

The CFP Board Center of Financial Planning set a single-year record in scholarships awarded to students and recent graduates in 2021. The 80 awards last year jumped 67% from the number in 2020, with a combined $300,000 in scholarships. The Center’s new programs from are: the Aspiriant Impact Scholarship; The Ballentine Partners Scholarship to Create a Diverse Financial Planning Profession; the College for Financial Planning — a Kaplan Company Scholarships for CFP® Exam Prep; the Dalton Education CFP Exam Review Course Scholarship; and the Parsec Financial CFP Certification Diversity Scholarship. “Scholarships play a critical role in building a talent pipeline to ensure that the financial planning profession can recruit and retain the talent it needs to grow,” the Center’s managing director, D.A. Abrams, said in a statement. “We commend the scholarship sponsors for making the commitment to train new financial planners. These scholarships will help foster a more diverse workforce that reflects the changing demographics in the United States.”

Riskalyze isn’t done adding people to its leadership team. On the heels of adding Tricia Rothschild to its board of directors and naming Lauri Schultz as board chair, Riskalyze has appointed Dr. Shari Hensrud as vice president of risk and analytics. Previously, Hensrud served as head of product management for Refinitiv’s wealth division.

Kestra Financial, a wealth manager owned by the Warburg Pincus-backed Kestra Holdings, launched a strategic partnership with AdvicePay to enable its more than 1,800 financial advisors to collect subscription fees. More financial advisors are adopting different methods of fees beyond the traditional model of charging 1% of assets under management, with AdvicePay emerging as the most commonly used processing software for subscriptions at hundreds of wealth managers nationwide. “Integrating the many operational, billing and compliance systems involved in support of the fee-for-service financial planning process has proven to be a complex endeavor for large financial services firms, which is why we are extremely excited to see our Enterprise platform become the go-to solution for firms looking to empower their financial professionals in this new approach to delivering financial planning services,” AdvicePay CEO Alan Moore said in a statement.

A new integration gives advisors using UX Wealth Partners’ TAMP access to research and analysis from ETF Action, an independent technology that compares thousands of ETFs and stocks. The integration will also utilize ETF Action’s workflow automation to auto-generate fact sheets, compare investment options and create custom model portfolios.