LPL to lower fees on ETFs and stocks

LPL Financial LLC will lower its equity and exchange-traded fund transaction fees to $9 a trade, from $15, at the start of next year, said Bill Dwyer, president of national sales and marketing for LPL Financial. Mr. Dwyer, addressing an audience of about 2,600 financial advisers at LPL Financial's annual conference in Chicago last week, said that the change in part reflects the growing popularity of ETFs. The crowd applauded the announcement. Despite the lower transaction fees, LPL has seen its fixed costs rise in the past few years, and “periodically we need to pass those on,” said Mr. Dwyer, though he didn't specifiy when that might happen. He also said that the firm's 12,600 representatives and advisers will receive a free one-year membership to the Financial Services Institute, the lobbying group for independent broker-dealers and their reps. That will push membership in the lobbying group to more than 28,000 broker-dealers and reps, and will give it more clout in Washington, executives at the conference said. The conference had a high-wattage lineup of speakers, including Michael Eisner, former chief executive of The Walt Disney Co., and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. lkuykendall@investmentnews .com