Wirehouses

Also, Dynasty lured teams managing nearly $1 billion in client assets to independence.

The seven recruits made the move from three wirehouses, Raymond James and Stifel.

Lending and cost cutting helped drive net income higher during the recent quarter, the wirehouse reported.

The recuits joined the wirehouse from Deutsche Bank, which is selling its U.S. Private Client Services unit to Raymond James.

The regional BD also recruited a complex manager from J.P. Morgan.

The former wirehouse group, which specializes in retirement plan consulting and planning, worked mostly with institutional clients before making the move.

The independent firm affiliated with Raymond James lured a wirehouse recruit with close to 20 years of experience.

"We are not going to have a separate robo adviser that would disintermediate our existing advisers," says CEO Paul Reilly.

The wirehouse has faced a difficult business environment so far this year, and additional headwinds may be coming during the second half of 2016, top executives say.

The recruit spent two years researching the move before deciding to leave the wirehouse.

Several of the largest moves this year show top talent is looking beyond traditional choices.

Profits rose 8% year-over-year at the bank's Global Wealth & Investment Management unit, which includes Merrill Lynch and U.S. Trust.

The number of financial advisers at the firm declines 1% to 15,042.

Two advisers joined Confluence Financial Partners, which is affiliated with Raymond James.

Wealth management firms need to acquire their own robo platforms because digital startups represent a real threat with "a long runway for growth," the analyst says.

A search is underway to replace Mary Mack, who will transition to a different unit.

The two ex-wirehouse advisers each had about 20 years of industry experience.

The largest recruits managed more than $17 billion in client assets.

Adviser recruiting was not expected to be affected, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

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.