National Planning loses 10 more OSJs with $2B in AUM

An independent broker-dealer less than 1/30th of the size of LPL Financial has grabbed 30 National Planning advisors from LPL’s incoming crop following its purchase of National Planning Holdings’ assets.

Independent Financial Group, the 41st-largest IBD, added 10 offices of supervisory jurisdiction and helped five of them launch an RIA called F3Logic, the San Diego-based firm announced last week. The group has $2 billion in assets under management and $16 million in gross dealer concessions.

The move marks at least the seventh poach by a smaller firm after LPL acquired the assets of the four NPH BDs with 3,200 advisors in August. Advisor Group’s Woodbury Financial Services alone has peeled off 81 advisors with more than $2.8 billion in client assets from National Planning and SII Investments.

Independent Financial’s haul includes four small OSJs in California, two in Virginia and one each in Ohio, Minnesota, Massachusetts and New Jersey, according to Managing Partner David Fischer, a onetime recruiting executive with Advisor Group. He credits Independent Financial’s “story” for its success.

“We’re a mid-sized, privately held BD by an executive team that was formerly with large, networked BDs,” Fischer said in an email. “Our approach has been to focus on a personalized, friendly and service-oriented approach. Everyone in the home office knows our reps’ names — we’re a family here.”

• Ameriprise
• Raymond James Financial
• Regional BDs
• Janney
• Recruiting
• Wirehouse advisors
• BNY
• RIAs
• Going independent
• Hightower
• Wells Fargo
• Career moves
• Morgan Stanley
• RBC
• LPL Financial
• Steward Partners
• Merrill Lynch
• Stifel Financial

Advisors on the move: 43 of the biggest recent jumps

The wirehouses have lost teams overseeing more than $12 billion in client assets over the past month, according to recent hiring announcements.

By Yueqi Yang

1 Min Read

Sarah Pierce Photography

SUPERSTORE VS. NEIGHBORHOOD STORE
F3Logic founding CEO Mike Childs of CIG Financial Services, and advisors Mary Kusske of Kusske Financial Management, Michael LaBrie and Thomas Nee of Compass Point Retirement Planning, and Kevin Nentwich of Financial Consultants of America and Sound Financial Strategies launched the affiliated RIA.

“I really felt they were just so personal and collaborative when you asked them about something,” Kusske says of Independent Financial. “That’s what intrigued me about them over all the other BDs. I just felt that this smaller firm would resonate more with my firm, with my beliefs.”

Kusske, who formally joined the new BD last week, compares LPL to a Home Depot superstore and Independent Financial to a neighborhood Ace Hardware. The RIA will help Kusske, a 31-year industry veteran, turn over her Minneapolis-area practice to her son, she says.

“FIDUCIARY, FOCUS AND FIRST”
Fidelity will serve as custodian for F3Logic, while Pershing will handle assets moving to Independent Financial’s platform, according to Kusske. The RIA’s name stands for “fiduciary, focus and first,” and the group plans to add more advisors to the hybrid practice over time, Childs said in a statement.

“F3Logic’s mission is to meet the needs of independent advisors who are searching for a better way to optimize their middle- and back-office operations,” Childs said. “Our aim is to empower independents to focus on what they do best — advising clients — while we take care of the rest.”

Childs made the move Oct. 24, while the four other advisors whose names were released joined last week, according to FINRA BrokerCheck. A spokeswoman for National Planning did not respond Friday to a request for a comment on their departures, and a spokesman for LPL declined to comment.

Independent Financial, which reported $122.9 million in revenue last year, manages about $16.5 billion in assets across roughly 625 affiliated advisors, according to Fischer. LPL, the largest IBD with $3.98 billion in 2016 revenue, has $560 billion in client assets and more than 14,250 advisors.