Recruiting

The No. 1 IBD also nominated a new board member and tapped key executives for advisor support and government relations.

Advisor headcount reached 2,160 advisors for the first quarter, up a net 43 from the year-ago period.

One custodian is testing the technology in its marketing efforts and anticipates its advisors may — eventually — decide to follow.

The advisors are the newest additions to the firm’s expanding brokerage ranks.

Independent Financial Partners aspires to be a “very, very small agent for change.”

The switch is the latest in a series of billion-dollar moves so far this year.

The 11-person team, which was assisted by Dynasty Financial Partners, was attracted by the raft of technology options in the independent space.

For one of the new hires, the move was about getting back to “a culture of a smaller, more personalized firm.”

The regional BD adds two teams with $373 million in assets.

The firm is looking at a range of “different opportunities” for potential wealth management deals, CEO Jim Cracchiolo says.

The company hopes to recruit new advisors by taking a version of its home office tour on the road.

The advisors join from Merrill Lynch, Raymond James, U.S. Bancorp and Investment Professionals.

Three of seven new hires came from wirehouses.

The recruits joined from Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Advisors, SunTrust and Snowden Lane Partners.

The firm’s latest hires come at the expense of Oppenheimer & Co. and UBS.

The major employer-plan group had previously been affiliated with the predecessor of Global Retirement Partners.

The firm has brought on 200 advisors since 2015.

The 7,500-advisor network agreed to buy certain assets of Foresters Financial’s U.S. BD and RIA.

An upcoming integration with AdvicePay marks the first step in a series of changes to recruiting and service at KMS under Erinn Ford.

The updated site will include more listings as well as opportunities for career coaching.