Displaying items by tag: independence

Wells Fargo sent out a thank you note to external recruiters for their work and efforts in locking in lots of senior hires in 2021. Well’s is going to continue and extend many of the measures it implemented in 2021 into 2022 such as hiring offers for brokers and higher referral fees for outside recruiters. Wells saw their recruiting and retention drop after their scandal in 2016 and it’s been a continuing effort to get back to par with hires. In addition to all the sweetened deals surrounding recruiting there are also measures such as pay cuts if managers lose brokers or don’t hit sufficient hiring statistics. Well’s decision to close their international business has also been a major contributor to their inability to gain transactions in recruiting efforts.

Finsum: Wells used to stand out for their Broker compensation, however competitors are stepping up, and Wells no longer stands out.

According to a report from Charles Schwab registered investor advisor firms with less than $100 million in assets are improving recruiting efforts as of late. In a poll, it was the fourth listed initiative among RIAs in 2021, up five spots from the previous year. How these new recruiting efforts are delegated is also interesting with a quarter of RIA’s planning on adding relationship managers and 15% looking to add a client-facing management role. Additionally, more than half the firms are also adding back office and admin staff. Talent is an increasingly important commodity in the average RIA firm and many new efforts will be made to obtain it.

Finsum: It will be interesting to see exactly how the details of obtaining new talent come out: whether that’s specific programs or bonus-based incentives.

There were lots of large transitions in the financial advisor community this year, but these were some of the biggest splashes in 2021. In August Dane Runia, transitioned his $3.2 billion dollar team from Merrill Lynch to Morgan Stanley. This wasn’t the only transition from Merrill this year as just a couple of months prior RBC moved in one of Merrill’s teams that were in control of over $2 billion. However, it was Merrill Lynch’s April deal with the biggest tagline of the year snagging an advisor of $17 billion from Citi Private Bank. Wells Fargo has been desperately kicking its recruiting into high gear as they lost $7 billion after they stopped serving international wealth management clients. Finally, UBS made a splash as they stole $10.5 billion teams from J.P.Morgan.

FINSUM: These were some of the most high-profile deals this year, but 2022 could be just as wild in the advisor transitioning world.

Wells Fargo is aggressively pushing branch managers to maintain and recruit new brokers with a variety of incentive-based packages. For example, penalties will be in place for a drop in headcount when it comes to year-end bonuses and will include headcount retention and arrivals rather than purely based on overall revenue. Managers say they could lose big if they don’t increase new brokers and retain old ones. Wells has suffered in its ability to retain advisors as of late and is trying to play catch up with the incentives. Separate recruiting and retention bonuses will also be part of next year’s pay incentive structure.

FINSUM: These are drastic pay changes to the management structure; Wells is serious about growing its working base.

Going independent is one of the biggest decisions an advisor will ever make. Moving from being an employee to running your own business is a huge decision. Even simply changing firms once already independent is a major one. There are a thousand considerations beyond just the obvious—branding, client retention, compensation—and advisors need incredible support when making these decisions and even well past the initial integration with a new firm.

Momentum Independent Network focuses on helping advisors with a seamless move. Instead of focusing on “transition”, momentum makes it a smooth evolution, taking a lot of the anxiety out of switching firms. We provide custom tailored support, personalized marketing consultation, business development road-mapping, and full supervision and compliance, among many other included services, such as insurance. Momentum also provides firm-specific platform and technology training so that your team can be up-to-speed in no time.

Your clients will feel how simple the transition is as well, with Momentum offering a seamless and compliant client paperwork process. And because Momentum is affiliated with HilltopSecurities—a leading municipal investment bank and one of the nation’s largest clearing firms*—your clients will benefit from superior execution, market research and insights, and a robust trading platform.

Gain an edge by speaking with Momentum Independent Network today

*As of Aug. 17, 2019. Based on number of broker-dealer clients. Investment News.