Recruiting

Wirehouses are losing talent as advisors look to escape bank-owned firms.

“There aren’t many combination opportunities left, so about six or seven months ago we recommitted ourselves to recruiting and got more aggressive in recruiting,” says Michael Purpura, president of D.A. Davidson Wealth Management.

The latest moves bolster the firm’s presence in the Northeast.

The wirehouse recently reported advisor headcount shrank by 258 advisors year-over-year.

The firm also opened a new office in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

The wirehouse exodus continues, as a team of Wells Fargo advisors jumps ship for the independent firm.

Advisors may be upset due to the high-handed attitudes of the larger firms, but pulling down six zeroes a year can offset a lot of irritation, says On Wall Street’s annual recruiters roundtable.

Two-thirds of firms don't know how to attract young people, a new survey reports.

"If our profession truly cares about the well-being of our clients to the extent that the profession professes, then we need to swing this pendulum in the other direction," Elwyn says.

Tom Thives, a 34-year industry veteran, will head up the firm’s offices in New Jersey.

The firm pulled in 11 new advisors in the first quarter of 2018, building on the 65 brokers hired last year.

One of the biggest notable losses came from Merrill Lynch, which lost a team managing $1 billion to the independent space.

The advisor, a former employee, has been soliciting more than two dozen clients at the bank, JPMorgan says.

Bill Hamm’s Independent Financial Partners has grown more than fivefold in 10 years with the No. 1 IBD.

Like other broker-dealers, the firm is far from achieving a ratio of 50/50 men-and-women planners.

The firm was defined by a culture of “no, no, no,” a top headhunter says as part of On Wall Street’s annual recruiters roundtable.

The $263 million practice’s new IBD reported record recruiting for 2017, helped in part by the movement of advisors following LPL’s massive acquisition.

The new hires say they were drawn to the firm’s investment platform, product offerings and investment diversification.

The Advisor Group IBD added three new teams, but state regulators required enhanced oversight of one new recruit.

Need a gut check on your career? Read what top recruiters have to say about the big and small firms in the industry.