Advisor recruiting momentum stayed high this week as Wells Fargo, Cetera, and Janney each announced new additions, with the wirehouse scoring biggest through an established FiNet team's expansion into Florida.
The largest of the week's moves brought a seven-person advisory group managing more than $1 billion in client assets from Truist Wealth Management into an established FiNet practice.
The team is operating in South Florida is anchored by Mark Elliot, Scott Friedman, Darren Dawson and John Kent, all arriving as executive managing directors and Partners, alongside John Henry Kent as vice president, Kimberly Benko in operations and Jose Mercy as a senior associate.
The group has joined Merritt Point Wealth Advisors, an independent practice affiliated with Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, more commonly known as FiNet.
With the Truist team tuck-in, Merritt Point – headquartered in Old Greenwich – now operates seven offices across Connecticut, New York, Texas and Florida.
The firm has built its growth strategy around courting established advisory teams that want to retain entrepreneurial control of their practices while tapping shared infrastructure, technology and capital backing.
That model is also supported through Merrit Point's relationship with Merchant Investment Management, which has backed several similar transitions across the industry this year.
North of Boston, a very different kind of transition played out as Edward Duffy, who spent 32 years affiliated with Commonwealth Financial Network, moved his Lexington Financial practice – which reports roughly $608 million in assets under administration – to Cetera.
Duffy's Braintree, Massachusetts-based team includes fellow advisors John Walsh and William Creesy, along with several staff members, including two of Duffy's own children in coordinator roles. Walsh's son, John F. Walsh Jr., also offers support as a client service associate.
Like other defectors from Commonwealth, Duffy and his colleagues decided to cut ties following its acquisition by LPL.
Still, Commonwealth remains the top-ranked firm among independent advisors, according to a new JD Power survey released Thursday, with LPL and Raymond James taking second and third place in that ranking.
Preserving continuity mattered most to Duffy and his team, which prioritized keeping Fidelity's National Financial Services for custody and clearing, along with third-party technology tools built up over three decades.
Janney Montgomery Scott expanded its Radnor, Pennsylvania, office with the addition of four financial advisors managing more than $630 million in client assets, all arriving from Wells Fargo.
The group includes Kirk Stensrud, managing director and head of the Stensrud Wealth Management Group – which was previously a Wells Fargo Advisors Profit Formula Team – with the support of advisor James Flaherty and senior private client associate Sindy Young.
Two other ex-Wells Fargo advisors, Yale Joseph and Kenneth Mintz, also joined Janney's Radnor location.
Janney's Radnor complex leadership framed the addition as part of a broader recruiting push tied to the firm's advisor-focused culture and collaborative practice environment – themes that have recurred across Janney's expansion announcements this year as it continues courting wirehouse teams.
"Their decision to join Janney reflects our continued recruiting momentum and the appeal of our advisor-first culture, collaborative environment, and commitment to helping advisors deliver personalized advice and long-term guidance for their clients," complex director Michael Hassell said of the new arrivals.
Janney, which was acquired by KKR from Penn Mutual in 2024, recently hailed its best first-quarter run of recruitment in 10 years, with 13 financial advisors overseeing more than $3.5 billion in client assets joining the firm in Q1 2026.
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