Insights & Perspectives from Louis Diamond

Louis Diamond

Managing Partner – Known for his sharp business acumen and analytical mindset, Louis brings clarity to complexity, helping advisors make confident decisions that shape their futures—serving as a trusted guide to those evaluating how best to serve clients while maximizing long-term enterprise value. Learn more...

Most Recent Articles

Most Recent Podcasts

Most Recent Transition Case Studies

Most Recent Moves in the News

$1.2 Billion UBS Advisor Team Goes Indie

By Ross Snel, Barron's - A financial advice team that managed $1.2 billion at UBS has taken the leap to independence with the assistance of Dynasty Financial Partners. So reports WealthManagement.com, which writes that the new firm will be called Cyndeo Wealth Partners. The name comes from the Greek word syndeo, which means “connect.”

UBS $1.2 Billion Wealth Team Breaks Away to Open Firm in Florida

By Suzanne Woolley, Bloomberg - Matt Kilgroe and his team have left UBS Group AG, where they managed $1.2 billion in client assets, to start Cyndeo Wealth Partners in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida. Kilgroe, 54, spent 21 years at Merrill Lynch before moving to UBS in St. Pete, where he worked for eight years. While Cyndeo has a number of old land-owning Florida families as clients, its seven advisers also work with corporate executives, business owners and professional athletes in about 40 U.S states, he said.

Dynasty launches ex-UBS team that managed $1.2bn

By Jake Martin, Citywire USA - Veteran advisor Matt Kilgroe has defected from UBS to launch Cyndeo Wealth Partners in St. Petersburg, Florida using RIA platform Dynasty Financial Partners, which is headquartered in the same city.

Shirl Penney lands UBS team as Dynasty Financial tower-mate in a sign the breakaway movement remains explosive, despite turning to ‘quiet launches’ during the COVID-19 pandemic

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Brooke Southall, RIABiz - The breakaway movement may have gone underground during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent market meltdown, but it never blinked. While wirehouses were getting knocked sideways by the shift to a virtual workplace, RIA custodians and recruiters adjusted their poaching tools on the fly and began shepherding "quiet launches."

After 52 Years at Merrill, Duo Producing $7.5 Million Goes Indie with RayJay

By Mason Braswell, AdvisorHub - Two lifetime Merrill Lynch brokers in Alexandria, Virginia, who said they had been generating around $7.5 million in annual revenue have affiliated with Raymond James Financial as independent contractors.

Integrated Partners to eclipse $7bn with addition of Merrill breakaway

By Jake Martin, Citywire - Integrated Partners is adding a $100 million Merrill Lynch breakaway that the LPL-affiliated hybrid firm said will push it past $7 billion in brokerage and advisory assets. New Jersey-based advisor Harrison Till, a former Duke University and Ohio State University football player, works primarily with business owners, corporate executives and employee benefit plans. He will adopt the Integrated brand as a newly-minted independent advisor.

Integrated Partners Adds NJ Advisor, Breaking $2 Billion in 2019 Acquired AUM

By Patrick Donachie, WealthManagement.com - Integrated Partners is welcoming Harrison Till to the organization, the Massachusetts-based hybrid registered investment advisor firm announced at the MarketCounsel Summit in Orlando, Fla. today. Till will join Integrated from Merrill Lynch and will bring along approximately $100 million in brokerage and advisory assets.

UBS Breakaways Launch LA Wealth Management Practice

By Alex Padalka, Financial Advisor IQ - An experienced UBS financial advisor has left the firm to form a new wealth management practice. Anne Johnston has launched Los Angeles-based Created Wealth Advisory to serve multi-generational families, creative professionals and baby boomer women, according to a press release from the company.

Merrill Loses $135 Million Duo to Independence

By Alex Padalka, Financial Advisor IQ - Merrill Lynch financial advisors have left the firm to start their own independent wealth management practice.

Advisory Firm NorthRock Partners Establishes Partnership With New York Private Bank & Trust

PR Newswire - New York Private Bank & Trust (NYPB&T), through its subsidiary Emigrant Partners, has made an investment in NorthRock Partners, the Minneapolis-based advisory firm that provides a host of exclusive client service offerings to the Midwest's most discerning and affluent families.

Multimillion-Dollar UBS Teams in Ohio Join Wells Fargo

By Mason Braswell, RIABiz - Wells Fargo Advisors has convinced two teams from UBS Financial Services in Ohio cumulatively producing more than $7 million to join its private client group franchise, a retort to the heightened exodus of brokers it has been experiencing.

Most Recent Quoted in the News

Cali laws strengthen protections against restrictive covenants, impose notification requirement

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Sam Bojarski, CityWire - Some RIAs will have to notify California employees by February 14 that non-competes and other contract provisions are void under new state laws.

UBS Retools Broker Recruiting Deals, Moves Away from Salary Guarantees

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Miriam Rozen, AdvisorHub - UBS Wealth Management USA is reworking a popular feature of its recruiting deals next year that had guaranteed experienced brokers’ deferred bonuses regardless of their revenue growth.

UBS is latest firm OK’d by NFL players union

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Bruce Kelly, AdvisorHub - More than two decades old, the NFLPA's registered player financial advisor program for years was limited to individual financial advisors.

Merrill Seeks ‘Momentum Change’ With 400% Recruiting Deals–Sources

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Miriam Rozen and Mason Braswell, AdvisorHub - “If someone’s going to look at Morgan Stanley or UBS, then this deal at least puts Merrill in the conversation too,” Diamond said.

LPL goes straight at wirehouse crown jewels — corner-office brokers — by re-platooning orphaned First Republic insider and making a high payout book portable and saleable

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Brooke Southall, RIABiz - LPL Financial is ready to launch a full frontal assault on the cream of Wall Street – its biggest, happiest, highest-margin corner-office brokers-- shedding a strategy that, for years, waged tactical war to peel away the big-brand's small, disgruntled and marginalized traders.

What ‘Cultural Fit’ Means And How To Find It

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Julius Buchanan, WealthSolutionsReport.com - Many aspects of advisor recruitment are quantifiable through various measurements – assets can be tallied, future earnings projected, and technology inventoried and evaluated – but cultural fit remains a quality rather than quantity that is best identified by the eye of the beholder.

Wirehouse Comp Plans for 2024: What’s In, What’s Out

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Jeff Berman, ThinkAdvisor - The three wirehouse firms that have disclosed their 2024 advisor compensation plans seem to be paying attention to advisors’ concerns over recent pay issues, industry consultants say.

Merrill Lynch Extends ‘Olive Branch’ to Brokers with 2024 Comp Plan

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Miriam Rozen, AdvisorHub - Wirehouse brokers are almost always cynical about the changes their firms make to their compensation calculation each year, but Merrill Lynch’s 2024 plan appears to have garnered a relatively positive response.

Solutions For Young Advisors Facing The Dreaded Non-Compete Clause

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Jennifer Lea Reed, FA-Mag.com - “Some firms surprisingly have no employment contracts and are very loose. There, the team can move whenever they want to,” says Louis Diamond, president of recruiting firm Diamond Consultants in Morristown, N.J., and a next-gen leader himself. “Others have a ridiculously aggressive employment agreement that takes their desire for control too far, and then you see everything in between.”

The $16T pool: Most retail AUM is at 10 firms, report finds

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Victoria Zhuang, Financial-Planning.com - Diamond said around half the advisors he sees leaving wirehouses in a given year choose to join another wirehouse, rather than leave the channel.

Wells Fargo spins heads and kills fax machines with radical plan to counter wealth management erosion by five-fold building of its IBD network

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Lisa Shidler, RIABiz - What they get right is going with the flow – recruiting advisors to an independent channel is much easier than recruiting W2 employees, says Louis Diamond, president of Diamond Consultants.

Broker-Dealer M&A Picks Up. Don’t Pop The Champagne Just Yet

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Larry Roth, WealthSolutions Report - Four Summer Deals By LPL, Atria And Cetera Have The Industry Abuzz.

Former Merrill star manager Oden jumps to HSBC

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Bruce Kelly, InvestmentNews - Big banks can struggle when they’re trying to figure out a wealth management strategy that works for everyday retail investors.

Shirl Penney hands over ‘front end of the house’ to Andrew Marsh as Dynasty does post-$100-million raise, post-IPO withdrawal and post-Schwab partnering reboot

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Brooke Southall, RIABiz - Dynasty Financial Partners hired an RIA coach in April, and now it's dragging him out of retirement, handing him the controls of the ‘front-end’ and applying his advice to reboot the Mothership.

UBS’s Cost Cuts Dampen Brokers’ Expense Budgets

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Miriam Rozen, AdvisorHub - “The lack of an ability to hire support staff, even if the advisors want to and take it on their own expenses is a major problem,” said Louis Diamond, a recruiter who has helped advisors exit UBS. “We hear about that all the time.”

How RIAs’ non-traditional hiring practices are creating a diverse talent pool in wealth management

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Charles Paikert, AdvisorEngine - Executive recruiter Louis Diamond cites another practical advantage of non-traditional hires: someone new to the industry who is trained and molded by a firm is likely to be more loyal and less of a “flight risk” than a well-traveled advisor shopping a book of business.

$2.4-Mln Merrill Broker Splits From Team to Join New Jersey RIA

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Karmen Alexander, AdvisorHub.com - Pine Valley Investments, a Marlton, New Jersey-based registered investment advisory firm, has picked up a Merrill Lynch broker who had been part of a team generating $3.8 million in annual revenue from $500 million in client assets.

Move to JPMorgan Is Full Circle for Many First Republic Advisors

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Patrick Donachie, WealthManagement.com - Many First Republic advisors will tell you they left a wirehouse or large brokerage for the bank’s more entrepreneurial, boutique model.

Inside Morgan Stanley’s Success—and What’s Ahead

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Carleton English, Barron's - “The current environment has given them a tailwind because of the sentiment that bigger is safer,” says Louis Diamond, president of Diamond Consultants, a financial advisor recruiting firm. “There is a subset of advisors who want to be at a big firm.”

Beyond Comp: What Makes Advisory M&A Deals Stick

Louis Diamond Quoted - By Jeff Berman, PlanAdviser - When it comes to setting up a successful long-term relationship with top advisers, firms still generally rely on sticks instead of carrots.