Stepping in as president of Janney Montgomery Scott on Tuesday, Anthony "Tony" Miller said he is eager to tell his firm's story of being a regional player that can offer many of the services of a large wirehouse without some of the bureaucratic hassles.
Miller, who has served as interim president of Philadelphia-based Janney since January, said sometimes regional firms have to be "very intentional" about getting their message out.
"We have a very compelling story to tell," he said. "We're very strong and stable from a financial perspective, with a great deal of resources that facilitate continuously investing in our platform and a continuous focus on pursuing growth."
Janney has seen some successes under Miller's predecessor, Timothy Scheve,
Miller said he hopes to build on that with more of what he deemed "organic growth." He acknowledged that Janney will continue moving advisory teams over from rivals, many of them most likely large Wall Street firms. But much of the way forward for the firm will lie in attracting more client assets to its existing advisory teams.
"We were on pace this year to have the best year the firm's ever had as far as our existing advisors, growing their own businesses," he said. "And we're really proud of that. And then we complement that with recruiting."
At least one industry insider said Janney simply needs to make itself better known. Rick Rummage, the CEO of The Rummage Group, deemed Janney a solid firm that "nobody talks about."
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"All firms know that recruiting is the quickest way for growth, and you are either winning or losing the recruiting war," Rummage said. "Firms like Janney have been kind of stale. They are not losing too many advisors but they aren't gaining many. And it's because nobody ever thinks of them."
To be sure, Janney has scored some recent successes recruiting from large wirehouses. In September, for instance, it announced it was welcoming
Those offers vary, depending on the size of the team that's being appealed to. But they can consist of payments exceeding 200% of a team's previous 12 months of revenue, he said.
That's, of course, not as generous as what some of the biggest players can offer. Both Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo, as well as some smaller firms, dangle deals worth well over 300% of a transitioning team's trailing 12 months.
Rather than the highest compensation, Janney offers new recruits what's often touted as regional firms' greatest selling point: freedom to conduct their business how they choose under a lack of pressure to push in-house products and services.
"There's not a lot of corporate mandates," Miller said.
Janney now has more than 900 advisors. Miller said he expects that number to grow but has set no target for what he wants the tally to eventually become. With retirements frequent in the industry, Miller said he'd be happy to see the total headcount increase by between 20 and 30 a year.
"We see the same trend in the industry that a number of our peers have seen," Miller said. "Maybe you're bringing fewer advisors but they're bigger teams. And they're more sophisticated."
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Miller said Janney's recruiting efforts are greatly aided by what he called possibly the best digital transition system in the industry. Miller, whose strengths lie partly in technology, said the system works within the framework of the broker protocol to make sure client information can be legally and seamlessly transferred to Janney.
The protocol generally allows departing advisory teams to take five types of information — clients' names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and account titles — without fear of legal consequences. Miller said Janney is careful to make sure its system, which has been running for more than five years, in no way breaches recruiting rules or standards.
"What's nice is the technology allows a client, should they engage with us and decide to make the transition, to fill in the blanks in a very slick, easy, digital way for the items that we're just not allowed to take," he said. "So it's a very well thought-out process."
Technology has long been a priority at the firm. In January, it brought in
Also on Tuesday, Janney announced that Michael Hricko, formerly director of finance, had been named the firm's chief financial officer. Miller said these changes are all part of a standard transition plan within the firm.
Miller, a certified public accountant who started his career at Ernst & Young, kicked off his own ascent at Janney in 2002 when he was hired as a director of internal audit. From there he'd go on to become treasurer, chief financial officer and, in 2013, chief administrative officer. That last position had him overseeing not only technology but also operations, finance and corporate services.
Miller said one of Janney's other strengths lies in the fact that it's owned by the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. Miller said that backing ensures the firm has deep pockets to dip into to continue building its support services for advisors.
"Penn Mutual remains fully committed to investing in Janney as an integral part of our enterprise wealth management strategy," Dave O'Malley, president and CEO of the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, said in a statement.
Miller said the capital that Penn Mutual can provide will help drive Janney's continued investments in digital systems. One goal is to make sure that advisors who move to Janney after leaving a larger firm suffer no loss in technological services as a result.
"Nobody should have to sacrifice the technology or their client experiences," to move, Miller said. "We get constant feedback from folks that we get a chance to chat with and the ones we ultimately hire, that say, 'This platform is in many ways better than the one I just left.'"
