LPL Financial in the News | LPL's Month in Headlines

LPL in the News

Firm growth, sustainable investing’s year in review, and LPL Research’s quest for diversity data.

Firm Growth

LPL Financial’s growth has continued apace, with the firm nearing 20,000 financial advisors and doubling its 2020 asset recruitment in 2021. When CEO Dan Arnold and managing director Rich Steinmeier explain plans for the future, they look to investment programs located at banks, credit unions, and other large financial institutions. From WealthManagement.com’s report of the February 3 earnings call:

“The general consensus was that if you’re above $10 billion, historically, you’re at scale; you should run your own broker-dealer; you build your own technology; you work with a custodian. What’s been challenged in that is, the pace of investment required to keep a modern platform has accelerated, not decelerated,” Steinmeier said.

“What we’ve found, largely, is that the firms that we’re talking to have world-class experiences in retail banking, have world-class experiences with their clients. But when it comes to their wealth business, a lot of times that has been relatively under-invested in. To modernize it to the point where it would be in parity with the balance of their experiences for their clients, would be tens of millions of dollars of investments.”

While institutions are the future of LPL’s growth trajectory, the firm is still seeing significant success across other channels.

Recent joins include:

• Massachusetts-based practice Accardi Financial Group, led by founder and chairman Joe Accardi, joined from Cetera investment Advisers, as reported by Financial Advisor IQ.
• Omaha-based father-son team Steve and Jeremy Friedman joined as a hybrid RIA, as reported by Financial Advisor Magazine.
• Florida-based duo Guy Blakey and Karl Willard joined from Securities America, as reported by Financial Advisor Magazine. 
• A trio of Salt Lake City–based financial advisors, Jason Howard, Shane Kunz and Chad Horne, joined LPL Financial from Wells Fargo Advisors to create the independent practice Outcome Private Wealth, as reported by WealthManagement.com.
• Montana-based John “Mark” Ross joined Linsco by LPL Financial from Wells Fargo Advisors, as reported by Financial Advisor IQ.

As LPL Financial looks to the future, the firm’s goals will be to help financial advisors in its network grow. In an article in Financial Advisor IQ, CEO Dan Arnold lays out plans for advisor growth:

LPL will provide “capabilities that [will] help our advisors differentiate [themselves] in the marketplace and drive efficiency in their practices,” Arnold said.

The firm’s support will come in the form of expanded digital solutions with increased personalization and self-service; enhancements to its wealth management platform to enable advisors to provide clients with differentiated advice, products and pricing; and additional digitized workflows on its core operating platform to help advisors with operations and scale, Arnold said.

Sustainable Investing Year in Review

LPL’s own research was featured in a review of sustainable investing in Financial Advisor Magazine  by Jason Hoody, CFA, head of investment manager research and sustainable investing research at LPL Financial. Hoody outlines the premise of sustainability — “humanity meeting its current needs without overburdening the natural environment or future generations” — and how it affects the investing world.

“Sustainable investing mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continue to attract record flows from investors,” Hoody writes. “Determining this universe involves the identification of funds that demonstrate a commitment to ESG considerations in their investment process (disclosed in the principal investment strategies section of their prospectus). As of December 31, 2021, in-flow of assets grew 52% from the year before to $362 billion.”

“As a wider range of investors continue to incorporate sustainable investing in their investment process, there’s been a growing trend of traditional investment strategies being repurposed as sustainable investing strategies [Figure 4]. During 2021, 45 funds were repurposed while 125 funds were launched. The implication for investors is the need to thoroughly vet strategies to ensure the investment is delivering on the claims made in its supporting literature.”

To read more about sustainable investing, check out the full Financial Advisor Magazine article.

LPL Research’s Quest for Diversity Data

An article on CityWire.com outlines LPL Research’s key initiatives. In addition to large-cap growth, small-cap growth, and liquid alternatives, the team is seeking to gather diversity data on the managers it covers. According to the article:

“LPL in late June partnered with eVestment to vet managers on its recommended list, which currently sits at 204 strategies. After six months, that research process had generated enough data for LPL Research to take a good first look, including a fall baseline finding that less than 30% of the 105 firms on that list are reporting diversity and inclusion statistics about their portfolio management teams, Hoody said.

Now, Hoody’s research team has started the process of going back to asset managers to ask them about that data - or lack thereof  - with an eye on increasing disclosure and thus boosting transparency to improve conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion in the future.”

Check out the full article on CityWire.

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^{The views and opinions expressed by LPL Financial Advisor(s) may not be representative of the views of other Financial Advisors and are not indicative of future performance or success. Neither LPL Financial nor the LPL Financial Advisor can be held responsible for any direct or incidental loss incurred by applying any of the information offered.}

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^{The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual security. To determine which investment(s) may be appropriate for you, consult your financial professional prior to investing.}

^{Investing involves risks including possible loss of principal. No investment strategy or risk management technique can guarantee return or eliminate risk in all market environments.}

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^{The return of an SRI/ESG strategy may be lower than if the advisor made decisions based solely on investment considerations.}

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