Raymond James bags $2.6B team of 16 advisors from Securian

Raymond James, coming off another record quarter for its wealth management business, has lured a big team from the former Securian Financial Services to its independent channel. 

The Summit Financial Group in San Ramon, California, a team of 16 advisors and 23 branch professionals managing over $2.6 billion of client assets, has joined Raymond James Financial Services, according to a press release Monday from Raymond James. RJFS is the independent channel of St. Petersburg, Florida-based Raymond James. BrokerCheck records show the team moved on May 31. 

The announcement comes just weeks after Cetera Financial Group said on Aug. 10 it had closed its deal to acquire Securian's retail wealth management business with roughly 1,000 advisors. After the deal's announcement in January, Securian lost around 9% of those advisors leading up to the deal's closure, although that was in line with Cetera's expectations, Barron's reported. The embattled Securian had lost several managing partners and branches in recent years.  

Read more: Cetera to acquire Securian's wealth business with 1,000 financial advisors

"I'm proud that our suite of services, research intelligence and culture of independence at Raymond James continues to attract such high-caliber teams," Bill Counsman, director for the RJFS Western division, said in the press release of the move. 

The Summit team of advisors includes Nathan Bennett, Steven Wilcox, Don Ledoux, Jay Gilson, Vanessa Savage, Gina Morais, Brendan Noonan, John O'Dea, Aaron Peabody, Michael Schomaker, Cody Smith, Jeneen Slack, Connor Merrigan, Kim Damiani, Dash Grammer and Robert Avey. 

Raymond James was chosen "because of its resources, client-first culture, and the caliber of people in leadership," Summit partner Bennett said in the press release. "The firm has the integrated technology that allows us to serve clients at a high level and the horsepower to help deliver solutions in the most complex financial situations."