Playing matchmaker has paid off for Raymond James' custodial operation, which just brought on a new RIA formed by three recently departed wirehouse advisors.
Raymond James Investment Advisors Division president Bill Van Law announced Wednesday morning that it was picking up the newly formed Emerald Asset Management, with offices in Cary and Rocky Mount, N.C.. The advisory firm was founded in December by a trio of CFAs: Two from Wells Fargo Advisors, James Tharin andClint Sorenson, and Robert Leggett, formerly of UBS.
Sorenson says that when he and Tharin first contacted Raymond James about joining forces, the company put them in touch with Leggett, who was also eyeing the same arrangement. "It was a mutual fit and we started talking," says Sorenson. "It was a perfect match."
The partners considered some of the bigger custodians, like Fidelity, Charles Schwab and Pershing, Sorenson says, but was attracted to Raymond James' technology platform and its increased focus on RIAs. "They seem to have more full service than the other custodians," says Sorenson of Raymond James IAD. "We thought it was a good cultural fit."
The trio wanted to work with the custodial operation, as an RIA, rather than with Raymond James' IBD, Sorenson says, because they wanted to have a company "aligned with our ethics and standards." Prior to joining forces with Raymond James, the three advisors separately managed more than $200 million in client assets; they had combined annual revenue in excess of $1.9 million.
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