12 Best & Worst Broker-Dealers: Q2 Earnings, 2021

Related: 12 Best & Worst Broker-Dealers: Q1 Earnings, 2021

Twelve of the biggest financial services firms with large broker-dealers reported higher earnings in the second quarter of 2021 versus a year earlier, when many of them set aside reserves for loan losses at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. These 12 firms and other financial services companies will start reporting their third-quarter results for 2021 on Oct. 13. All figures in the slideshow represent year-over-year changes in net income and earnings per share, as well as the number of financial advisors or other reported results tied to wealth management or private banking operations.

Advisor Headcount

Overall, three wirehouse firms — Bank of America (Merrill/Private Bank), UBS (Americas) and Wells Fargo — saw their combined headcount of financial and wealth advisors shrink by 2,760, or 7.2%, over the past 12 months to 38,478 as of June 30 from 41,238 a year ago. Morgan Stanley no longer includes the size of its advisor force in its quarterly financial statements. Four other large broker-dealers tracked by ThinkAdvisor — Ameriprise Financial, LPL Financial, Raymond James and Stifel Financial — had a total of 39,856 advisors. That's up 2,602 from 37,254 a year ago, a 7% rise.