Howard Diamond Quoted
By Murray Coleman
Juicy seven-digit bonus checks doled out by the likes of Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley might be a recruiting tactic that’s rapidly fading from the U.S. wealth management market.
Indeed, industry experts are seeing upfront signing bonuses offered by big brokerages shrinking by as much as half of what they were less than a year ago.
Until the dust settles around the DOL rule, recruiter Howard Diamond expects to see firms keep “getting more creative” in promoting dynamics such as greater access to staff, product diversity and marketing support. Another point of focus might be on terms and lengths for such inducements, which he says act like forgivable loans and typically last for around nine years.
“If the DOL rule is replaced or disappears, we might see back-end bonus packages resurface,” Diamond says. “But the huge deals of the past are definitely going the way of the dodo bird.”
