LPL loses $325M practice to Commonwealth over service issues

LPL Financial lost an advisor who had been affiliated with the firm for 16 years to Commonwealth Financial Network because Commonwealth has better service and technology for her practice, the advisor says.

Ursula Daley of Daley Financial Partners — which has more than $325 million in assets under management — says she “never would have made this decision if I didn’t feel like I needed to do so for my clients.” The Chicago-area advisor joined Commonwealth toward the end of a record year in recruiting.

Commonwealth Financial Network's annual revenue

Commonwealth is the No. 4 independent broker-dealer with $1.2 billion in 2017 revenue. The firm also added a practice from LPL last month. Its gross recruited revenue will reach $66 million in 2018, according to Andrew Daniels, Commonwealth’s managing principal for business development.

Daley praises the team she worked with most often “on the front line” at LPL’s home office, but she says there are “still a lot of silo operations” in other parts of the organization hampering its services to advisors and clients. Commonwealth has a “completely different dynamic,” she says.

“Their service model is, ‘We don’t answer the question, we solve the problem,’ and that to me was what I wasn’t getting at LPL,” Daley says. “I don’t want to call a helpline, I want a partnership. Commonwealth will provide myself and my clients with a partnership and a full-service model that I can depend on.”

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Representatives for LPL didn’t respond to requests for comment on her exit.

While LPL remains the longtime No. 1 IBD with $4.3 billion in 2017 revenue and more than 16,000 advisors, CEO Dan Arnold has pledged to “transform” the firm’s culture. In the firm’s third-quarter earnings call, he said the firm has made hundreds of enhancements for advisors with more in the works.

Ursula Daley Commonwealth
Tyler Mallory

“While there is work to do, the feedback from our advisors has been encouraging,” Arnold said at the time. “They are telling us that we are focused on the right things and that they are seeing improvements. We will maintain our focus and continue our progress to deliver a differentiated service experience that will help our advisors accelerate their pace of winning in the marketplace.”

Daley had started at LPL in 2001 as a lawyer at the firm’s headquarters before she launched her Oak Brook, Illinois-based practice, she says. Her husband Tom also worked for LPL for about 15 years in the business development unit.

The practice, which is joining Commonwealth’s corporate RIA, also has one supporting advisor, two full-time staff members and two part-timers. Daley officially aligned with Commonwealth on Dec. 17, according to FINRA BrokerCheck.

“This powerful team of women has built a client base that they can relate to — much like how we selectively affiliate with advisors who align with our values,” Commonwealth’s Daniels says. “Their passion and contributions to the advice industry are fully valued, and we commit to providing their practice with integrated, accessible technology to enhance their client service model and fuel business growth.”

Commonwealth is on track to boost revenue in 2018 by 13% — or $160 million — to $1.4 billion, according to stats released at its annual conference. Daley received a personal note from CEO Wayne Bloom and heard from other staff and fellow advisors this week upon joining the firm, she says.

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