In the News

National Holdings Corp. acquires independent broker-dealer WFG Investments

15:53 20 March in In the News by rafferty

March 14, 2017 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News The transaction comes as industry executives and consultants expect more consolidation in the IBD industry   In the midst of a punishing business environment for small and mid-sized broker-dealers, National Holdings Corp. said on Monday it was acquiring select assets of Williams Financial Group of Dallas, including its independent broker-dealer, WFG Investments. Williams Financial Group has approximately 230 financial professionals nationwide with approximately $6.5 billion in client assets under management. Under the terms of the transaction, National will pay $2.3 million in initial consideration at the closing, which is subject to the approval of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. There is potential for additional cash and/or stock payments if certain performance targets are met within three years following the deal's closing. Industry executives and consultants widely believe more consolidation is coming to the...

Who’s Moving to LPL?

00:22 08 March in In the News by rafferty

March 7, 2017 By Janet Levaux, ThinkAdvisor The number of reps joining the firm was way up in the fourth quarter, but new assets are not showing a similar spike As it does each quarter, LPL Financial is providing the names of financial advisors who’ve recently affiliated with the independent broker-dealer. The list includes several large groups of registered reps and the names of individual advisors who have joined from a wide variety of firms. Despite the long list of new FAs, though, the IBD said net new assets coming over from new clients and advisors grew just 2% in the fourth quarter of 2016 from the prior quarter and only 1% from the earlier year. This includes both advisory (fee-based) and brokerage (commission-based); broken out, net new advisory assets expanded 9% from Q3’16...

Dan Arnold, LPL’s new CEO, to be in the spotlight during earnings call

19:10 09 February in In the News by rafferty

February 8, 2017 By Bruce Kelly, Investment News After a tough first month on the job, Mr. Arnold will need to be in "damage control mode" as he faces analysts and investors for the first time, according to an industry recruiter It's been a tough first month on the job for Dan Arnold as the CEO of LPL Financial. First, two huge groups of brokers controlling billions of dollars in client assets, including star adviser Ron Carson, in January left the firm. Next, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Galvin, long a thorn in LPL's side, whacked the firm last month with an order to pay up to $3.7 million in restitution and fines to investors as the result of an investigation into sales of unsuitable variable annuities by a former top-producing rep based in Boston. LPL Financial...