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April 26, 2017 at 08:09 AM
While Morgan Stanley says the now-delayed Department of Labor fiduciary rule has put a damper on advisor movement, Raymond James says its independent channel’s recruiting efforts are going full steam ahead.
In fact, it has more than 85 prospects at its yearly indie advisor event taking place this week in Orlando – up from 75 a year earlier.
“We have seen no evidence that DOL has negatively impacted recruiting,” said Scott Curtis, head of Raymond James Financial Services, now hosting its yearly conference in Orlando. The event has drawn over 2,000 of the indie channel’s roughly 4,000 registered reps.
“Alternatively, in some cases, I’d say it has helped us – with [the approaches to the rule taken by] other firms, like some restrictions put on IRAs vs. our flexible approach,” Curtis explained in an interview on Wednesday. “We offer more options and are preserving flexibility” in terms of both fee- and commission-based accounts.
Earlier this month, Morgan Stanley CFO Jonathan Pruzan said DOL has “probably has had a chilling effect on recruiting, [and] attrition has been low.”
(Morgan Stanley had 15,777 reps as of March 31, down 111 (or 1%) from a year earlier but up 14 from Dec. 31.)
Raymond James’ employee channel recently recruited a Morgan Stanley advisor in Trinity, Florida, with about $106 million in client assets and over $1 million in yearly fees and commissions.
The fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2016, “was our best year” yet in the independent channel, says Curtis, with about $150 million in trailing 12-month fees and commissions moving onto the platform. That’s up a third from $112 million the prior fiscal year, he adds.
