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."
During a town-hall meeting with advisors at the RJFS confab, two advisors who had moved to Raymond James over the past two years spoke about their pleasure in having switched firms.
"One advisor who has been with us for about four months got up and addressed the audience" during the question-and-answer period, Curtis elaborated. "He wanted to say 'thank you.' That was unprompted."
As for the roughly 50 prospective advisors attending the event, several are already committed to move to RJFS. Attendees were at various stages of the transition process, according to Curtis.
"Maybe about 25% have gone independent already," he said. "They are looking, because they aren't satisfied with the breadth and depth of support and resources they are receiving."
"Most are employee advisors with large firms," Curtis explained. "There's a consistent drumbeat we hear about firms not paying respect to their overall independence and their recognition and awards being tied to" sales of certain products.
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