Recruiting

Foresight is key — today's “overqualified” hire could be tomorrow's "capable choice for a promotion."

The Boston-based boutique oversees the assets of roughly 140 full- service clients and 800 individual households.

In two recent moves, the firm promoted one of its own to regional director and lured another back from AllianceBernstein.

The advisors know RBC’s Pittsburgh complex director from earlier in their careers, when all three men worked at Smith Barney.

The No. 1 IBD is responsible for nearly half of the dozen mega-moves in its sector this year.

As some firms closed their doors, the regional BD saw a selling point for new recruits and existing FAs in a different approach.

“Financial advisors typically don’t speak athletes’ language, so athletes and entertainers gravitate toward those people who do,” said former Chicago Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye.

The hurdles faced by Black professionals who break into the financial services belie the notion that their small numbers at the industry’s top ranks are a pipeline problem.

Disclosing such information is rare in wealth management, but long overdue, says Andy Sieg.

Necessary new approaches include better cultural understanding, more flexibility for new entrants and more outreach, advisors and executives say.