Independent BDs

Mergers and acquisitions involving wealth advisors and brokers reached a seven-year annual high in November, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The firm's top recruiter explained its approach to helping advisors keep up with a rapidly changing profession.

The PE-backed wealth management holding company will grow to 2,500 advisors upon closure of its latest acquisition.

Integrated Partners added a family office practice eyeing wirehouse breakaways as part of a dozen recruiting grabs for the No. 1 IBD and its OSJs.

The IBD’s head of practice management says more planners should explore becoming ensembles, and she also divulged the firm’s “secret sauce.”

The firm hasn’t made any decisions about advisor retention bonuses, but some top shareholders will earn tens of millions of dollars once the deal closes.

The acquisition of Ladenburg Thalmann for $1.3 billion would take the private equity-backed firm into the realm of the largest firms in the sector.

The new hires came at the expense of Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo.

Fresh off rebranding its wealth management business to Avantax, the firm aims to support its smaller but more productive force.

The IBD network's AdvicePay integration could help the firm convert more retirement plan business into wealth management clients as it completes a record year for new assets.

The ensemble and enterprise pickups came after the No. 4 IBD added 70 advisors in the first nine months of the year.

The wealth management unit took in lower revenue from the year-ago period — but executives say its transformation is going according to plan.

With tens of thousands of certificants affiliated with giant BDs, the documents required by the new standards are making their conflicts of interest plain as day.

The network of five IBDs with 4,400 advisors hasn’t made a final decision, according to Bloomberg News.

Median revenue surged by 18% in the sector, but forward-looking companies have already adjusted to a fast-changing industry.

CEO Dan Arnold described the firm's multipronged strategy for further growth.

“I can’t remember seeing so many $5 million to $10 million [advisors] in the pipeline,” CEO Paul Reilly said.

CEO Jim Cracchiolo says the firm is focused on “holistic advice rather than a free trade” after wealth management client assets reached a new high.

Industry trends and succession planning prompted the enterprise to leave Advisor Group’s FSC Securities, according to the partner-brothers of the Nettuno Group.

The RobustWealth and Wells Fargo acquisitions are boosting the firm’s technology and scale as firms of its type diverge on their approach to a changing industry.