Breaking down the benefits and red flags of the industry's leading acquirers.

By buying EverBank Financial, the insurance and retirement savings behemoth will gain billions of dollars in low-cost deposits and access to many new lending products that it can offer to millions of clients.

The percentage of M&A deals involving brokers leaving for advisory firms has plunged.

The digital M&A trend has much in common with the wildly popular game app.

Assets under advisement were said to be $13 billion. The AUM was much less.

"Call it an arms race of offerings," says Jonathan Beatty of Schwab Advisor Services.

A new partnership between ex-wirehouse advisors and a retirement plan consultant will use "gratitude boards" to focus discussions on important issues in clients' lives.

Backed by the considerable resources of Manulife Financial, Hancock wants to be a player in an altered IBD marketplace.

LongTail Alpha plans at least two strategies that may be available for clients in separate accounts or funds.

The acquisition enables Zurich-based GAM to introduce a computer-driven trading system focused on long-only and alternative strategies, the fund manager says.

The firm bought the unit, which has over 600 advisers, as part of a $150 million acquisition deal to boost its overall broker ranks.

As the go-to financial expert, you will probably be asked for advice. Here’s what to tell a prospective seller.

"If you're a financial services company and you're not thinking of yourself as a financial tech company, then you're probably in a declining business model," says Rob Foregger, co-founder of NextCapital.

About 83% of business owners don't have a transition plan. This prompted adviser and attorney Jim Maher to build out a unique offering for clients.

The deal follows a string of acquisitions by prominent private equity firms.

The firm's latest acquisition is MacDougall MacDougall & MacTier, known as 3Macs, and which was founded in 1849.

"With so many buyers, it’s a good time to be a seller," according to the Nuveen/DeVoe RIA Deal Book.

Mercer Advisors turned to channel partners for referrals and made a valuable business-model change.

In an unusual move, the two veteran advisers left the independent channel to rejoin an employee broker-dealer.

Keeney Financial Group plans to leverage Triad affiliation to grow, firm founder says.