Hot off their acquisition of Financial Telesis in partnership with Bill Chetney, LPL Retirement Partners held its annual event in Arizona the week of Oct. 20. The buzz at the meeting was about the acquisition and who is – and is not – joining Chetney’s new aggregator, Global Retirement Partners.
That question was especially relevant for other aggregators under the LPL tent, like Pensionmark, RBG, Sheridan Road and Bukaty, who may end up partners or competitors. Meanwhile, LPL RP, led by the new team of David Reich, Jim Owens and Adam Sokolic, would rather focus their attention on their worksite financial service.
Though the year-over-year growth of worksite financial is promising, there were rumblings of concern. While no one would argue that giving more workers access to advice presented by advisors, powered by technology and supported by call centers isn't a noble cause, some advisors expressed concern about the cost. And some providers, hoping to capture assets themselves, are reluctant to turn over their data – and pay for the privilege to boot.
But, as they say in Scottsdale (or is that Brooklyn?), money talks. An increase from $1.6 billion to $4.5 billion, and from 142 plans to 429, in one year is impressive.
LPL President Robert Moore was in attendance at Scottsdale, where we caught up with him and Dave Reich. Moore noted that the transition from Chetney to Reich was a natural step in the evolution of the business, as was the acquisition of NRP (which needed a platform to continue to complete) nearly four years ago.
Along with technology, independent research and, of course, compliance, the greatest value that LPL brings to their advisors, Moore says, is their “10,000 points of light,” bringing together business intelligence from colleagues as well as insights from big data.
Reich emphasized that LPL is gearing up to support the aggregators within LPL, including foundational technology, branding and help with growth and succession planning.
There's no doubt that LPL is the big dog among independent broker dealers and in the retirement market. The question for LPL RP: What does Act II look like with emerging technology and new leadership?
