In a new episode of the Financial Planning Podcast, the head of the independent arm of one of the largest regional brokerages explained how it plans to compete beyond its traditional market.
Alex David is the CEO of Stifel Independent Advisors, a firm that
In the podcast, FP Chief Correspondent Tobias Salinger asked David to share more figures about the scale of the company’s independent arm and the scope of his plans for the future.
1. Stifel is better known in the industry as a substantial employee brokerage or regional firm. What should independent advisors know about its approach to the independent channel?
2. Based on BrokerCheck, I can see that Stifel Independent Advisors has its own broker-dealer and RIA, which are distinct from the firm’s main broker-dealer, Stifel, Nicolaus & Company. In its last Form ADV the independent arm reported that it has $1.11 billion in AUM. A two-part question: Are you able to state the total client assets for Stifel Independent Advisors? And what is the structure of the independent broker-dealer as it relates to offices of supervisory jurisdiction or home-office supervisory jurisdiction, custodians and whether practices can have their own outside independent RIAs?
3. We’ve talked about the firm’s efforts to grow its independent broker-dealer. So for the current group of advisors, how would you characterize their practices, and are most of them former Stifel employee advisors who migrated to the IBD or did they come over from outside firms?
4. What is the profile of a target or prospective recruit your team is looking for right now?
5. What quantitative or qualitative goals for Stifel’s IBD would you have for the next year or five years?
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