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May 21, 2014 at 09:42 AM
Raymond James (RJF) prides itself on its conservative approach to the financial advice business, and its executives stressed this point when discussing possible acquisitions at the independent channel’s national conference this week in Washington, D.C.
But Raymond James Financial Services President Scott Curtis didn’t hold back about the group’s recruiting push in a meeting with the media on Wednesday.
“We expect this fiscal year to be the best since 2009,” Curtis said. “We are only halfway through the fiscal year and are ahead of last year [at this point] by 40% or better.”
Still, he admitted, there’s no way the group can replicate the ’09 results. “That was not a benchmark. That was an outlier, as the world fell apart and advisors were trying to find a safe place to go, which we benefited from.”
Curtis stressed that, though the firm doesn’t share its recruiting numbers, “We are having success in the growth [via recruiting] and expect that to continue.
“If we have a couple advisors leave who had less than $200,000 [in yearly fees and commissions] and some come in with $1.5 million or more, we are comfortable with that,” he added.
During a town-hall meeting with advisors early Wednesday, two advisors who had moved to Raymond James over the past two years spoke about their pleasure in having switched firms, Curtis says.
“One advisor who has been with us for about four months got up and addressed the audience” during the question-and-answer period, the executive said. “He wanted to say ‘thank you.’ That was unprompted.”
