In the News

One Strike, You’re Out: FINRA looking more closely at IBDs with high-risk brokers

September 5, 2014

By Diana Britton, Wealth Management.com

Not long ago if an advisor was a big enough producer, his or her regulatory and credit history didn’t matter as much. As long as infractions were not criminal, he or she could still find a place to do business—if they kept producing. Likewise, if a broker with a spotless record left a firm that ran afoul of regulators, or had more than its fair share of brokers who had, there was no implied guilt by association. They too could find a place to hang their licenses.

“Those days are gone,” says Ryan Shanks, CEO and founder of Finetooth Consulting and co-founder of JoinAFirm.com. “It doesn’t matter if you come in and you think you’re with a great firm and you’re doing $5,

As Kleintop Leaves LPL for Schwab, Will Morale Suffer?

August 18, 2014

By Janet Levaux, ThinkAdvisor

Recruiters debate whether or not the latest high-profile departure will hurt the IBD

Jeffrey Kleintop has stepped down as chief market strategist at LPL Financial (LPLA) and officially starts a new job at the giant RIA custodian Charles Schwab (SCHW) next week.

“As our new chief global investment strategist, Jeff will help investors make sense of international market trends and events and their implications for investing strategies,” Schwab said in a statement on Monday.

Kleintop left LPL, the biggest independent broker-dealer, in early August. His departure comes on the heels of news that Chief Marketing Officer Joan Khoury is leaving later this month. Earlier this year, Derek Burton retired as head of Independent Advisor Services after the IBD expressed “concerns over his interactions with other employees.”

LPL  has not yet named Kleintop’s replacement.

Schorsch Scores Another IBD

August 14, 2014

By Diana Britton, Wealth Management.com

Just a week after announcing its acquisition of VSR Financial, Nicholas Schorsch’s RCS Capital Corp. (RCAP) reached an agreement to buy independent broker/dealer Girard Securities, a San Diego, Calif.-based firm with 250 advisors and over $10 billion in assets under administration. The two acquisitions bring RCAP’s independent advice empire to over 9,700 advisors and about $200 billion in assets across 11 b/ds.

The deal terms were not disclosed.

“We view Girard, along with our recently announced agreement to acquire VSR Group, as another example of an exciting accretive ‘tuck-in’ acquisition for our retail investment advice platform,” said Larry Roth, CEO of Cetera Financial Group.

Nicholas Schorsch,