LPL bags $4.6B mega-advisor team in North Carolina

Left to right: Bill Harnden, Greg Smith, Chris Roney and Daryl King, managing partners at Pilot Financial.

The broker-dealer supercharges its network in the east with a roughly 100 advisor team formerly from Lincoln.

LPL has scored a massive win in North Carolina as it onboards a superteam of more than 100 advisors formerly from Lincoln Financial.

The broker-dealer giant announced Wednesday that Pilot Financial, a team of 105 advisors managing about $4.6 billion in assets, has joined its broker-dealer, RIA, and custodial platforms.

Previously with Lincoln Financial, Pilot Financial aims to enhance service and client convenience through this move.

Based in Greensboro, North Carolina, Pilot Financial’s origins date back to the early 20th century with the formation of three small firms: Pilot Life Insurance, Lincoln National Life Insurance, and Jefferson Standard Life Insurance. After multiple mergers, Pilot Financial was established in 2001 to support independent advisors with strategic planning, coaching, compliance, and administrative assistance. The firm is led by partners Chris Roney, Greg Smith, Daryl King, and Bill Harnden.

“LPL is a stable partner, Fortune 500 company and leading wealth management firm with a proven track record as a preferred service provider for financial professionals,” Chris Roney, partner and manager at Pilot Financial, said in a statement. He emphasized that the transition to LPL would improve account service, while advisors would benefit from LPL’s vertical integration and flexibility with respect to financial strategies.

“We are looking to grow our network thoughtfully and believe that working with LPL puts us on a better trajectory to attract like-minded, quality advisors to Pilot Financial,” said Greg Smith.

The past few weeks have seen a streak of ex-Lincoln advisors breaking away to join other firms. That exodus comes in the aftermath of Osaic fully acquiring Lincoln’s wealth advisor business early this month. At the time, that business had an estimated footprint of 1,400 advisors overseeing $115 billion in assets.

Today’s news from LPL also stands to be among the biggest advisor moves of the year, though it’s miles away from rivaling JPMorgan’s historic addition of a $28 billion team from Merrill Lynch in the first half of May.