An unprecedented public health and economic crisis hasn’t stopped hundreds of financial advisors from switching firms.
A look at 32 recent recruiting moves and news in the independent space shows that the pandemic has only taken the firms’ operations virtual rather than hindering them. If the coronavirus impeded any moves, the disruption amounted to temporary delays.
More than 300 advisors with $17.2 billion in client assets have changed broker-dealers so far this year, according to recruiting announcements tracked by Financial Planning. Out of the 10 days in 2020 with the most incoming recruits unveiled in formal press releases issued by the firms, four of them came after the U.S. outbreak of coronavirus in mid-March.
For example, an enterprise group of 50 advisors with $1.5 billion in client assets dropped Advisor Group’s Securities America to affiliate with Cambridge Investment Research on March 27. LPL Financial — which added a net 299 advisors from the year-ago period and $8.4 billion in recruited client assets in the first quarter — reeled in another enterprise from Securities America with 100 advisors and $3 billion on April 30.
Recruiting moves often come in the wake of M&A deals. The two largest moves in the sector in 2020 came after former Securities America parent Ladenburg Thalmann sold the IBD network to Advisor Group. Still, based on the publicly available information, LPL and Cambridge have added the most advisors through recruiting of any other IBDs so far this year.
Raymond James trailed those two rivals, unveiling new hires totaling at least 27 new advisors with $3.2 billion. The firm added a net 286 advisors year-over-year to its independent and employee broker-dealer units in the first quarter to reach a record 8,148 registered representatives.
Scroll through to see these recruiting moves and other notable industry items.
Note: The dates listed in each recruiting move are from official FINRA BrokerCheck records rather than the day of the company’s announcement.
For a recap on where things stood in mid-April, click here. To see 32 recruiting moves and other news in the indie channel since then, scroll down our slideshow.