LPL Wields Major, if Unglamorous, Recruiting Advantage
December 5, 2017 Barrons.com LPL Financial is beating back rivals to lock up billion-dollar practices at the National Planning Holdings units it recently bought. And while incentive money, culture and scale are always factors in these recruiting battles, LPL wields an ace card: A relatively easy transition. Last week, $1.1-billion Discovery Financial Centers, in Red Wing, Minn., waved off outside suitors and agreed to move to LPL. In October, $2-billion Trilogy Financial, in Huntington Beach, Calif., announced it would join LPL. And LPL plans by the end of the month to announce deals with additional billion-dollar firms, according to Financial Planning. These businesses belonged to some of the four broker-dealers whose assets LPL acquired in August. LPL chief Dan Arnold has projected that his firm will hang on to about 70% of the four...