Raymond James defines itself by its conservative approach to the financial-advice business, and its executives stressed this point when discussing possible acquisitions during the independent channel’s national conference held recently in Washington, D.C. When it comes to the advisor space, “We do not want to make transformative acquisitions,” explained CEO Paul Reilly.
“It has to be a similar culture, strategic fit and the right price, or we won’t do it,” Reilly said. In terms of size, “Morgan Keegan was unusual.”
There are some private broker-dealers for sale, he said, that are attractive. “We just keep saying, if you choose not to be private, we would be pleased if you would be part of us.”
Raymond James Financial Services President Scott Curtis was upbeat about the group’s recruiting results. “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, Curtis 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.”