In its latest 8-K, LPL reported that its rep force was essentially unchanged for the year — it started with 11,920 as of year-end 2008 and finished 2009 with 11,950.
But CFO Robert Moore said in an interview with Investment Advisor magazine that LPL added 750 new representatives during the year.
While there was some attrition among reps, as it expected would be the case with moving the Pac Life B/Ds onto its clearing platform, Moore pointed out that “looking at the total business,” LPL had retained 92% of total production during the year.
As it nears 12,000 advisors, LPL Financial stands just below Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (18,135 FAs), Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (15,006) and Wells Fargo Advisors (14,961) in terms of its Series 7 representatives. And it is clearly ahead of UBS, which has 7,084 reps.
Moore said that recurring revenue accounts for 55% to 60% of LPL Financial’s annual revenue, as shown by 29.6% growth in advisory AUM to $77.2 billion for the year.In a challenging year that began with the company announcing layoffs, LPL Financial rebounded to end 2009 with a 4.4% increase in net income despite an 11.8% decline in net revenue.