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In the News

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Robinhood is snapping up financial advisers. Here’s why.

20:40 28 April in In the News by rafferty

April 27, 2021 By Nicole Casperson, Investment News Robinhood Financial is ramping up its financial adviser recruiting activity, entering the top 20 firms among incumbents by snatching up 40 experienced and licensed advisers from competing firms year to date, according to InvestmentNews‘ Advisers on the Move data. The majority of Robinhood’s adviser recruits this year came from Fidelity Brokerage Services (35%) and TD Ameritrade Inc. (25%), according to the data. A handful of advisers were recruited from other wirehouses and brokerages, including Charles Schwab & Co., Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc., Vanguard Marketing Corp. and Morgan Stanley, among others. Robinhood’s recruitment activity during the first four months of this year is a stark contrast compared with prior years. The online free trading app recruited 52 advisers for the full year 2020 and...

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In face of pandemic, IBDs proved resilient in 2020

23:55 26 April in In the News by rafferty

April 26, 2021 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News Last year, the 25 largest independent broker-dealers reported $26.6 billion in revenue, an increase of 4.3% from 2019. Although financial results were far from spectacular, growth at leading IBDs last year was resilient in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic and the havoc it caused for the broader stock market. 2020 was anything but a typical year for the industry, particularly for service-focused businesses like independent broker-dealers. Covid-19 caused firms to shut down their offices and send staff home to work. Advisers began learning to click the mute button on Zoom. And adviser recruits stopped flying to distant cities to press the flesh with executives trying to convince them to switch firms. Although financial results were far from spectacular, growth at leading IBDs last year was resilient...

IBDs Navigate The Pandemic

15:35 13 April in In the News by rafferty

April 1, 2021 By Eric Rasmussen, FinancialAdvisor The Covid-19 pandemic frayed the social and economic bonds that the world takes for granted, shone a light on vast inequality, revealed who had the resources to carry economic burdens and who were the most vulnerable to depredation. And that’s just the independent broker-dealers (IBDs). Here, as in many areas, the virus exacerbated trends already in place—it gave a boost to big firms already armed with resources, that were diversified enough to shelter precarious income streams, and that had the capital wall to withstand the onslaught of competition (and protect debt service). The pandemic also hastened the tech arms race among IBDs, since the hearts and minds of clients and rep recruits were now being won through the internet, not in hotel lobbies. Just as teachers had...