Independent BDs

LPL is making big changes among its top executives.

Bill Dwyer, a 20-year LPL veteran and its president of national sales, is retiring from the independent broker-dealer, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Dynasty Financial announced Monday that Octagon Financial Services, a McLean, Va., registered investment advisor that specializes in working with professional athletes, is now using Dynasty's open-architecture wealth management services and technology platform.

The firm has added a team with $650 million in assets to build a presence in the City of Brotherly Love.

The company announces modest revenue growth and a move to start outsourcing "non-advisor-facing" jobs.

Classic investment style boxes are out and themes are in, Burt White, LPL Financial’s managing director of research, told advisors.

The new top executive at Cetera Advisor Networks said he plans to emphasize growth in 2013.

Cetera Advisor Networks has added a new four-person advisor team to its Virginia region.

WealthEngine has introduced a platform that helps advisory firms locate and profile high-net-worth individuals.

LPL Financial is pushing to expand services for high-net-worth clients. In the company's most recent move, its wholly owned Private Trust Co. subsidiary has announced strategic plans to build on its rapid growth of 25% over the last three years.

This year, Duran said the company plans to aggressively expand its business model, and its brand -- aiming to look more like Starbucks and less like rivals HighTower and Dynasty Financial.

The collective voice of independent financial advisors just got a little bit louder.

Two former wirehouse advisors have gone independent in Baltimore and Bethesda, Maryland.

Securities America has completed its second broker-dealer transition in the past 30 days and added 30 advisors in Washington, Iowa.

Focus Financial has snapped up a big Seattle wealth management firm.

Raymond James Financial Services, the company’s independent broker-dealer, announced Monday it has added a mother-daughter team in Bethesda, Md., with $200 million in assets.

Custodians try different strategies for growth as advisors break away to join RIA firms.

Bank and broker-dealer affiliations help RIAs bear the technology and compliance costs of growth, but can chip away at objectivity.

With fiduciary advisors taking market share from the brokerage firms, will FINRA exact payback? Here's a glimpse of what may come.

This year was a “slower year than many expected,” in terms of financial advisors departing major firms for other pastures, according to Chip Roame, the managing partner at Tiburon Strategic Advisors. “I believe 2013 may be slower, too,” he says.