The 10 biggest transitions among independent brokerages this year

Five of the 10 largest financial advisor recruiting or M&A transitions among independent broker-dealers this year have led to the closing or repurposing of a brokerage firm.

In the latest phase of wealth management’s ongoing record consolidation, expanding giants such as LPL Financial, Cetera Financial Group, Mariner Wealth Advisors, Captrust and Hightower are recruiting and often buying up practices or former midsize competitors. LPL picked up new teams as part of four of the 10 largest enterprises and brokerages that entered the independent brokerage channel, moved between firms or left it in 2021, according to Financial Planning’s tracking of company recruiting and deal announcements.

The 10 moves span more than 2,100 advisors and nearly $165 billion in client assets. LPL’s competitors attracted large teams and enterprises as well: At least 28 teams or enterprises with $1 billion or more in client assets changed or dropped an independent BD in 2021, compared to 13 in 2020. With more outside investors, prospective buyers and potential sellers than ever, wealth management M&A deals are always a “recruiting exercise,” with the parties engaging in “a mutual getting-to-know process,” said Rudy Adolf, CEO of Focus Financial Partners.

“They need to convince us that these are truly quality businesses,” Adolf said. The firm never invests unless both Focus and the practice are “convinced that we can add value to them,” he said. “This is the foundation of the partnership.”

Focus and other RIA consolidators and platforms usually count themselves as in a separate channel from independent brokerages, but firms entering their folds or using their services may also elect to use a BD and take on a similar structure as most advisors with LPL or Cetera. On the other side, firms such as Wealth Enhancement Group and Carson Group offer comparable setups as the RIA consolidators with the option of using LPL or Cetera’s BD. Plus, when one BD buys another BD or attracts a team that has its own BD, the incoming firm’s brokerage arm will either shut down or go to a more limited use.

With the traditional wealth management divide of brokerages and RIAs growing more blurry every year under the blizzard of M&A deals, many firms are embracing their transitional services as critical tools for wooing advisors and their practices. Independent wealth managers are making the case that they’ll provide the easiest, least-disruptive landing spots.

For example, earlier this month, Commonwealth Financial Network launched its Virtual Transition Support services, according to Nancy DiBattista, the firm’s senior vice president for transition and field development operations. At the beginning of the year, the firm rolled out a specialty suite of services specifically for breakaway brokers, following LPL, Raymond James, Kestra Financial and other rivals in offering ex-wirehouse and employee teams more structured transitions to independence with greater assistance from the firms’ corporate staff.

Under the virtual transition program, a team of five under DiBattista in the firm’s San Diego and Waltham, Massachusetts-based offices takes over the process by opening up accounts, helping to complete the relevant forms, and getting data and signatures from clients.

“Prior to us launching this, it was really the advisor doing all this work,” DiBattista said. “It's probably the less fun part of the transition.”

To see which firms reeled in the largest recruits and incoming practices and acquisitions in the IBD channel, scroll down our slideshow. For a look back at the biggest moves of 2020, click here.

Note: The amount of client assets in each move comes from the firm that added the practice or enterprise. The figures aren’t independently verifiable in most cases. Firms losing business often dispute the accuracy. In addition, some transitions may be slightly larger or smaller than the amount of assets the companies stated at the time of the announcements.

The dates of the moves come from FINRA BrokerCheck, the SEC IAPD website and company announcements. Wherever possible, the date refers to the date their affiliation changed formally on BrokerCheck. CUNA Brokerage Services’ impending move to LPL will almost certainly be the largest or among the largest recruiting moves in 2022, rather than from this year. The companies don’t expect to complete the transition until early next year.

Cetera headquarters
Cetera Financial Group

10. Totus Wealth Management

Client assets: $2.4 billion

Location: Houston and The Woodlands, Texas

Number of advisors: 11

Date of move: April 30

Previous BD: MassMutual

New BD: Cetera Advisors (Cetera Financial Group)

Remark: One of the largest wealth managers recruited a major office of supervisory jurisdiction that expected to top more than 50 representatives after moving to a new brokerage.

Jim Starnes and the team at Houston-based Totus Wealth Management picked Cetera Financial Group after he spent 20 years with wealth managers in the wirehouse and insurance channels, most recently at MassMutual.

For more information, click here.
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Mariner Wealth Advisors

9. FCG Advisors

Client assets: $2.7 billion

Location: Chatham, New Jersey

Number of advisors: 4

Date of move: Sept. 10

Previous BD: Cambridge Investment Research

New BD: MSEC

New RIA: Mariner Wealth Advisors

Remark: One of the largest teams to leave an independent broker-dealer in 2021 moved to Mariner Wealth Advisors from Cambridge Investment Research after only a year. Mariner made its sixth M&A deal of 2021 when it purchased FCG Advisors.

For more information, click here.
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Captrust

8. Genovese Burford & Brothers Wealth & Retirement Plan Management

Client assets: $3.13 billion

Location: Sacramento, California

Number of advisors: 17

Date of move: Jan. 29

Previous BD: Royal Alliance Associates (Advisor Group)

New BD: Capfinancial Securities

New RIA: Captrust

Remark: A Captrust rival helped draw a major practice to its ranks by suggesting — correctly, it turned out — that the competitor would be “a very good fit for you,” according to a partner with the firm.

The surprising referral in Genovese Burford & Brothers’ talks with a different wealth manager led the four partners to select Captrust after their relatively brief three-month search.

For more information, click here.
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Wealth Enhancement Group

7. Carroll Financial Associates

Client assets: $4.7 billion

Location: Charlotte, North Carolina

Number of advisors: 39

Date of move: Nov. 30

Previous BD: Cetera Advisor Networks (Cetera Financial Group)

New BD: LPL Financial

New RIA: Wealth Enhancement Group

Remark: Fresh off attracting a new private equity investor, Wealth Enhancement Group unveiled an agreement to make its 11th deal of the year — and its largest ever. Carroll Financial Associates, a hybrid RIA, folded into PE-backed Wealth Enhancement.

For more information, click here.
A Wells Fargo Bank Branch Ahead Of Earnings Figures
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News

6. Ignacio Barcena

Client assets: $7 billion

Location: Miami

Number of advisors: 2

Date of move: Oct. 18

Previous BD: Wells Fargo Advisors

New BD: Insigneo

Remark: Midsize independent brokerage Insigneo added financial advisor Ignacio Barcena and his assistant Liliana Borrero after Wells Fargo exited from the international wealth management business. The team caters to high net worth clients throughout Latin America.
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Hightower

5. Bel Air Investment Advisors

Client assets: $8 billion

Location: Los Angeles

Number of advisors: 10

Date of move: Sept. 15

Previous BD: Bel Air Securities

New BD: Hightower Securities

New RIA: Hightower

Remark: As private equity firms inject capital across wealth management, one of the largest consolidators kicked off the year with a record-breaking RIA acquisition agreement.

In its largest deal ever, Hightower bought Bel Air Investment Advisors — a Los Angeles-based ultrahigh net worth practice with more than $8 billion in assets under management — from a Canadian asset manager.

For more information, click here.
BMO Harris Bank To Emphasize Digital Revamp In U.S. Strategy Shift
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News

4. BMO Harris

Client assets: $15 billion

Location: Chicago

Number of advisors: 115 advisors

Date of move: March 30

Previous BD: BMO Harris Financial Advisors

New BD: LPL Financial Institution Services

Remark: The nation’s largest independent broker-dealer scored a massive recruiting grab in the bank channel, its second in a span of four months.

BMO Harris Financial Advisors — the retail brokerage and advisory business for the U.S. arm of the Bank of Montreal — affiliated with LPL Financial’s bank and credit union arm. 

For more information, click here.
M&T Joins Regional-Bank Merger Rush With $7.6 Billion Deal
Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg News

3. M&T Bank

Client assets: $22 billion

Location: Buffalo, New York

Number of advisors: 210 advisors

Date of move: June 24

Previous BD: M&T Securities

New BD: LPL Financial

Remark: LPL Financial's latest recruiting grab will create the largest bank investment program affiliated with the No. 1 independent broker-dealer in one fell swoop. 

“LPL is able to offer superior technology at the scale and pace that will help us differentiate our services and deepen our relationships with clients," said Matt McAfee, head of affluent wealth markets at Wilmington Trust, the wealth management subsidiary of M&T Bank.

For more information, click here.
Trading On The Floor Of The NYSE As Stocks Extend Gains
Michael Nagle/Bloomberg News

2. Voya Financial Advisors

Client assets: $37 billion

Location: Des Moines, Iowa

Number of advisors: 811

Date of move: June 9

Previous BD: Voya Financial Advisors

New BD: Cetera Advisor Networks (Cetera Financial Group)

Remark: Cetera Financial Group bought certain assets related to the independent planning channel of Voya Financial Advisors in a deal that accelerated the consolidation in the independent broker-dealer sector. More than 800 financial advisors from Voya's wealth manager folded into the IBD network’s largest firm. 

For more information, click here.
LPL Financial Fort Mill Office.jpg
Brian Gassel/LPL Financial

1. Waddell & Reed

Client assets: $63 billion

Location: Overland Park, Kansas

Number of advisors: 900

Date of move: April 30

Previous BD: Waddell & Reed

New BD: LPL Financial

Remark: The nation’s largest independent broker-dealer is learning how to grow more effectively.

LPL Financial secured commitments from advisors serving 99% of Waddell & Reed’s wealth management client assets, compared to retention of just 70% from its last acquisition of a comparable size nearly four years earlier, National Planning Holdings. Australian firm Macquarie Asset Management completed its $1.7-billion acquisition of Waddell & Reed’s asset management business, spinning off the wealth unit to LPL for $300 million in the process.

For more information, click here.
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