LPL Financial (LPLA) dramatically increased its recruiting results in the second quarter, attracting 128 affiliated advisors vs. 59 in the first quarter of 2016.
The greatest number of recruited advisors, 48, join LPL with individual or team practices that have $100 million or more of client assets. Forty advisors have made the move with $50 million to $99 million of client assets, while the remaining 40 reps have from $30 million to $49 million.
"We experienced another strong quarter for recruiting," said Bill Morrissey, head of business development for the independent broker-dealer, in a statement.
A sizeable number of the recruited advisors, 15, moved to LPL from Cetera Financial Group, while nine joined LPL from IBDs in the Advisor Group. Cetera recently became an independent entity, while the Advisor Group is being sold by AIG and bought by Lightyear Capital.
"It seems like LPL has been capitalizing on the upheaval at Cetera and the ex-AIG broker-dealers, for instance," said recruiter Jon Henschen, in an interview with ThinkAdvisor.
Cetera sees the situation somewhat differently. "Our advisor retention rates have been exceptionally strong this year, and we are grateful to our advisors and institutions, who have overwhelmingly chosen to remain with us, even throughout our company's strategic transformation process from earlier this year," the company said in a statement.