RJ Recruits 750-Plus FAs

By Janet Levaux

November 02, 2009 at 07:00 PM

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Raymond James Financial says its two broker-dealers hired over 750 veteran financial advisors with more than $35 billion in assets and over $250 million in historical gross revenue in the fiscal year ended September 30, 2009.

Raymond James & Associates (RJ&A), the traditional employee arm of the firm, continued to "attract high-level advisors from wirehouse firms and hosted a record number of them at its headquarters this past year. The independent-contractor division of RJFS saw record results with the number of wirehouse recruits increasing almost four-fold over 2008."

Raymond James' financial-institutions division, affiliated with nine new institutions in nine states (including Bremer Bank) added 135 new financial advisors to its ranks.

"These results continue to reinforce the fact that Raymond James offers an extremely attractive home for top advisors whether they choose to be an employee, an independent contractor, RIA or operate in a bank-based investment program," says Chet Helck, chief operating officer of Raymond James Financial. "In spite of last year's extraordinary economic conditions, our client assets under administration grew 13 percent and securities commissions and fees were up 9 percent overall, which we attribute to our recruiting success and fully expect to exceed in 2010."

Raymond James says it has more than 5,300 financial advisors serving approximately 1.9 million accounts in more than 2,300 locations throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. In addition, total client assets are approximately $223 billion, of which $29 billion are managed by the firm's asset management subsidiaries.

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