April 8, 2024
Jason Diamond Quoted
By Courtney Hoff Dockerty
At wirehouses, complex compensation plans, talent retention and lawsuits are creating challenges, all at a time when many financial advisors are increasingly attracted to independent opportunities.
Jason Diamond, an executive vice president at the recruiting firm Diamond Consultants, finds it unsurprising that advisory groups with the most years of industry experience are also those most likely to leave.”They are the ones who notice the most how much the firm has changed,” said Diamond, who did not work on either of the UBS deals.
After an acquisition by Bank of America in 2008, Merrill has steadily undergone a process of what Diamond deemed “bankification.” Many decades-long employees, he said, can today scarcely recognize the firm they started working for.
“It really should always be called Bank of America Merrill Lynch,” Diamond told Financial Planning. “For lifers who lived through the glory days, it’s very clear now that it’s Bank of America calling the shots and not Merrill.”
