Raymond James Financial (RJF) announced Monday morning that it had closed on the acquisition of Morgan Keegan from Regions Financial, paying $1.2 billion in cash.
In an interview, Raymond James COO Dennis Zank reiterated what was previously reported—that he expected most of Morgan Keegan’s 1,000 advisors to join Raymond James, that 98% of the 600 Morgan Keegan reps presented with retention offers had signed a letter of intent to join the firm—but also said that of those 98%, 96% had already submitted their paperwork to do so.
In addition, Zank said 12 of Morgan Keegan’s top managers had signed employment contracts with Raymond James. Of that number, six were from Morgan Keegan’s private client unit, including its top two executives and its four regional directors.
“For the most part,” said Zank (left), those Morgan Keegan advisors “will continue to work with their management teams.” With the anticipated addition of the 1,000 Morgan Keegan FAs to the Raymond James & Associates employee broker-dealer, Raymond James will have about 6,500 representatives across its employee and independent and bank BD channels in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.
(See previous AdvisorOne article on Raymond James-Morgan Keegan retention deal.)