By Wendy Leung – When considering a move, it’s natural for advisors to wonder whether clients will follow them to the new firm. Yet the desire to share the news can completely derail a transition to another firm. Here’s what top attorneys recommend when it comes to communicating with clients before, during and after a move.
Mindy Diamond Quoted – By Jeff Benjamin, Investment News – HighTower Advisors put an exclamation point on its move away from recruiting breakaway brokers this week by officially exiting the broker protocol.”It’s a little bit of form over substance,” said Bob Oros, chief executive of the $50 billion RIA consolidator.
Louis Diamond Quoted – By Bruce Kelly, Investment News – Tired of having to pay six-figure bonuses to replace some of their most productive brokers who left for competitors after the financial crisis, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and UBS Financial Services upended the wealth management industry one year ago by withdrawing from an agreement known as the protocol for broker recruiting. The move was a determined effort to hold onto more of their brokers.
Barbara Herman Quoted – By Thomas Coyle, Financial Advisor IQ – A recent state court ruling has cast doubt on a key provision of the Protocol for Broker Recruiting, putting more pressure on the already weakened advisor-recruiting agreement and erecting a new barrier in the form of “garden leaves” to FAs looking to take old clients to new firms, industry experts tell FA-IQ.
Mindy Diamond Quoted – By Dan Jamieson, Financial Advisor Magazine – Merrill Lynch is not making plans to leave the broker recruitment protocol, according to Andy Sieg, head of wealth management at the firm.
Protocol or Not: Here are 7 things financial advisors should be doing now, even if you’re not planning a move. [Infographic]
By Barbara Herman – OnWallStreet – 8 things advisors need to do now, whether you’re thinking of making a move or not. With Morgan Stanley and UBS officially out of the Broker’s Protocol, advisors need to prepare for life after the Protocol.
By Mindy Diamond – No doubt the headlines exclaiming that UBS pulled out of the Protocol for Broker Recruiting (AKA the Protocol) have reached you by now. Certainly announcements like this cause an abundance of emotions from fear and anxiety to anger and everywhere in between for advisors who were protected by the seminal document. There are some realities that every advisor should be aware of, before allowing your emotions to get the best of you.
Howard Diamond Quoted – By John Aidan Byrne, New York Post – Morgan Stanley has locked the gates to keep its high-priced wealth management brokers from fleeing. The new edict — breaking with a 13-year-old agreement known as the Protocol for Broker Recruiting — enacted on Nov. 3 means the bank will threaten wealth management pros with costly litigation if they bolt for a rival brokerage.
Mindy Diamond Quoted – By Jeff Benjamin, InvestmentNews – A recent slowdown in the pace of reps leaving brokerage firms is seen as largely responsible for the sudden dip in merger and acquisition activity in the advisory space, according to the latest report from DeVoe & Co. The question now, is whether a wirehouse trend away from broker protocol will spark a fresh surge in breakaway activity.