In the News

Head of Lincoln’s IBD Steps Down to Lead ProEquities

19:55 29 July in In the News by rafferty

July 28, 2015 By Diana Britton, WealthManagement.com   Christopher Flint has stepped down from his role as president of Lincoln Financial’s independent broker/dealer arm to serve as ProEquities’ new president and CEO. ProEquities, an independent b/d in Birmingham, Ala., has about 1,000 advisors and is owned by Protective Life Corporation. Flint has been with Lincoln for the last nine years, most recently as head of Lincoln Financial Securities and head of Lincoln Financial Network’s advisor recruitment and acquisition strategies. Prior to that, he served as senior vice president of branch office development at Securities America. Earlier this year, Protective Life was acquired by The Dai-ichi Life Insurance Company, a Japan-based private sector life insurer.    ...

LPL Financial Pays to Bring Assets Over

20:16 15 June in In the News by rafferty

June 2015 issue of Rep Magazine By Megan Leonhardt   The independent broker/dealer is taking steps to boost its fee-based and advisory business. LPL Financial is offering its hybrid advisors up to $100,000 to shift their assets held elsewhere to LPL’s advisory platforms, according to an internal communication. The firm is rolling out a new Off Platform Asset Conversion Program, which aims to assist dually registered, or hybrid, advisors—defined as those that operate an independent RIA and use the broker/dealer–in transitioning their assets held at other custodians and third-party investment advisor, such as AssetMark and Envestnet, to the firm’s advisory platforms. “We feel LPL has the best custody platform in the industry, and we are proud that our advisors custody the majority of their client assets with LPL,” the firm said in a statement. “Many RIA firms are...

Two Roads For Small B-Ds

17:20 03 June in In the News by rafferty

June 1, 2015 By Dan Jamieson, Financial Advisor Smaller broker-dealers are facing two divergent paths. One path leads to a dead end, a route being followed by aging B-D owners who, faced with expanding regulatory costs, are looking to get out of the business. The other road, traveled by B-Ds looking to survive, offers opportunities to acquire advisors and assets from firms that exit the business. “The sad fact is that a lot [of small B-Ds] won’t be around in a few years because they don’t have the money” to keep up with compliance costs, says Joel Blumenschein, president of Freedom Investors Corp. in Brookfield, Wis., which has about 75 reps. The latest statistics from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority show that the long-term decline among B-Ds continues. Through April, Finra had 4,040 member firms,...