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In the News

The Big Blur

21:20 06 April in In the News by rafferty

April 1, 2022 By Eric Rasmussen, FinancialAdvisor To view FA's 2022 broker-dealer ranking, Click here . To view FA's 2022 extended broker-dealer ranking, Click here. As Jodi Perry, president of Raymond James’s independent contractor division sees it, the history of the broker-dealer industry is only half-written. In the last decade, the business has seen a wave of consolidation as firms with huge capital resources gobble each other up, leaving smaller firms to try navigating a rocky course of fee compression, regulation and a brutal war for talent—(especially talents with the biggest books of business). According to Cerulli Associates, the top 25 firms control 68% of the assets under management and 58% of all industry advisor affiliations. If the advisory world were seen as a tableau on the wall of a museum, the lines would increasingly seem meshed as the...

The Big Mistake That Leaves Advisors Open to Lawsuits

15:26 02 March in In the News by rafferty

February 28, 2022 By Jeff Berman, ThinkAdvisor After Hightower sued a breakaway advisor in December on accusations he broke an agreement protecting client information, advisors and other industry leaders criticized the firm for using what they deemed a wirehouse tactic. But in recent years, an increasing number of RIA firms have filed similar suits, legal experts told ThinkAdvisor. Across channels, too many advisors and brokers don’t read the terms of the contracts they sign or even know what the exact terms are when they join a firm, they said. One big mistake is that advisors “almost never” have a lawyer review a contract from a financial services firm before signing it, according to Brian Hamburger, CEO and president of MarketCounsel and chief counsel of the Hamburger Law Firm. Not Just for Wirehouses Anymore It used to be the wirehouses...

Why IBD’s Are Changing Their Recruiting Deals

14:53 11 February in In the News by rafferty

February 9, 2022 By Jeff Berman, ThinkAdvisor The shift that first LPL Financial and now Commonwealth Financial Network have made from production rates to asset levels when calculating transition assistance for recruited advisors makes sense based on the evolution of advisor books to an increased percentage of advisory assets, according to industry recruiters. The shift in strategy stands to also help IBDs trying to compete with RIA custodians and other IBDs for advisors, Louis Diamond, president of Diamond Consultants, said Monday. Similarly, Andy Tasnady, managing partner of Tasnady Associates, told ThinkAdvisor by email Monday that the moves by LPL and now Commonwealth “makes sense now that the retail investment world (and its revenues) are now fee-based rather than the older school transaction (trade) based.” After all, the “biggest revenue sources now are fees from managed...