LPL loses hybrid RIA to Triad

LPL Financial lost a four-advisor hybrid RIA managing $150 million in client assets to Triad Advisors, becoming the sixth new firm to join Triad’s platform this year.

Claris Financial founder John Paxton, along with colleagues Daniel Murphy, Christopher Farver, and Aaron Gibbs, switched broker-dealers after eight years with LPL, their new partner announced this week. The suburban Richmond, Virginia, firm had been with LPL since Paxton launched it in 2009.

LPL has shed a net 121 advisors from its ranks so far this year, with most of its losses coming from the exits of three major offices of supervisory jurisdiction. Meanwhile, Triad has grown to roughly 650 advisors with the addition of the Glen Allen-based Claris, says Nate Stibbs, Triad’s chief strategy officer.

“As part of the evolution of their firm, they really were trying to identify ways to scale growth,” Stibbs says. “It’s part of a broader and continuing industry migration to the hybrid model. We’re seeing it in all the firms that we’re talking to.”

An LPL spokesman declined to comment on Claris’ departure. The firm retained 93% of its production in the second quarter, or 97% when excluding the OSJ exits, according to its latest earnings report.

IN THE NETWORK

Paxton started Claris in 2009 after spending nine years with Wachovia and two years with First Union Capital Markets, according to FINRA BrokerCheck. His financial services career began in 1996 as an advisor with Wheat First Butcher Singer.

Murphy, a 23-year industry veteran, came over to LPL in 2012 after seven years with Wells Fargo Advisors. Farver broke into the field in 2000 at a micro hedge fund before moving over to Ameriprise back in 2006 and to LPL in 2010, according to his bio on Claris’ website.

Gibbs, who has served as a bank examiner for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, worked at SagePoint Financial for three years before coming to LPL in 2011. Claris also includes two client associates and an administrative assistant.

“Our decision to join forces with Triad Advisors was a natural outgrowth of who we are, and what we hope to accomplish for our business in the years to come,” Paxton said in a statement.

Claris listed $115 million in assets under management and 300 clients with 661 accounts in its latest Form ADV, filed in June, and Triad says its combined advisory and brokerage assets are $150 million. The hybrid firm formally aligned with Triad on May 8, taking TD Ameritrade as its custodian on the same day.

Atlanta-based Triad, a network of hybrid RIAs constituting the 29th largest IBD in the country, and fellow Ladenburg Thalmann subsidiaries have nearly 4,400 advisors. The parent firm’s Independent Brokerage and Advisory Services segment reported modest pretax profits of $3.6 million for the first quarter.