Raymond James Reports Big Jumps in Fee-Based Assets, Cash

Raymond James CEO Paul Reilly.

After bad news dominated Raymond James' headlines last week — namely its planned layoff of about 500 staffers and reports of technical glitches — the firm had good news to report this week.

Its total client assets under administration topped $945.2 billion in August, a year-over-year jump of 15% and a 4% gain from July.

Plus, its Private Client Group — which includes 8,155 advisors — had $899 billion of AUA, up 14% from last year and 4% from the prior month.

"Our continued strength in financial advisor retention and recruiting drove record [PCG] assets in fee-based accounts of $483.1 billion, which grew 20% over August 2019," said Chairman and CEO Paul Reilly. Plus, fee-based assets for the business grew 20% year over year and 5% from July to hit $483 billion.

Across the company, assets under management totaled $155.6 billion, up 9% from August 2019 and 3% from July 2020.

"The increase of client assets was driven by equity market appreciation and the net addition of Private Client Group financial advisors," according to a statement.

Cash sweep balances for U.S. clients were $53.5 billion as of Aug. 30, up 43% over August 2019 and 3% over July 2020.

Meanwhile, net loans at Raymond James Bank of $21 billion grew 1% over August 2019, but dropped 1% compared to July 2020.

Rival LPL Financial had total assets of $762 billion as of June 30, up 7% from a year ago. Its total client cash balances were $45.3 billion, and its advisor headcount was 16,973. (It does not report monthly data.)

Recruiting Updates

Raymond James recently added advisor Patrick Fulton in Lyons, Kansas, from Edward Jones, where he worked for the past decade with about $175 million in client assets.

He made the move with client service manager Monica Otto and client service associate Amanda Beaver. The team operates as Salt Creek Wealth Advisors.

Meanwhile, advisor Matt Thiel left Wells Fargo Advisors to join Raymond James in High Point, North Carolina. He managed some $115 million in client assets, and works with client service associates Karen Park, Tyler Kubanka and Morgan Banker as Signature Wealth Strategies.

Thiel has been in the financial services industry for 21 years. He spent the past roughly 18 years at Wells Fargo and Wachovia Securities (which merged in 2008), and earlier was the annuity director for Wachovia.

"I am pleased to welcome Matt to Raymond James," explained Reilly. "I am proud that our resources and unlimited support continue to attract high-quality advisors like Matt, and we look forward to him growing his practice in the independent channel."

When the firm announced its cost-cutting move last week, which included the elimination of nearly 4% of its global workforce, it stressed that the job cuts mainly would affect those in corporate roles across the U.S. and abroad.

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