LPL drives assets to $1.1 trillion in Q2

LPL Financial was busy in the second quarter reeling in an assortment of new assets, reaching a total of $1.1 trillion at the end of June, an increase of $358 billion or almost 47% compared to the same time a year earlier.

LPL was so busy brining in assets and driving growth internally that its growth in assets bested the return of the S&P 500 stock index, which increased 39% to reach 4,298 for the 12 months ending June 30. What makes that unusual is that financial advisers hold a mix of assets for clients, including bonds and alternative investments, which traditionally lower but less volatile returns than stocks.

LPL was firing on all fronts for the three months that ended in June, from recruiting advisers to existing advisers bringing in net new assets to completing previously announced deals to purchase advisers.

"In the second quarter, we continued to increase our recruiting results and gain market share," said LPL CEO Dan Arnold in a conference call with analysts Thursday afternoon. "The combination of our recruiting momentum and the appeal of our model continues to expand the depth and breadth of our pipeline."

According to LPL's earning release from Thursday afternoon, recruited assets for the quarter were $35 billion, more than triple the amount when compared to 12 months ago. And second quarter net new assets were $37 billion, a 16% annualized growth rate.

Now with 19,114 financial advisers, by far the largest independent brokerage firm in the industry, LPL also acquired new assets of $69 billion, after closing in April the purchase of the wealth management business of Waddell & Reed.

LPL also moved onto its platform the retail brokerage and advisory business of M&T Bank, with $21.9 billion total assets.

At the same time, LPL's adviser headcount continues to build. It added 2,141 advisers year over year, an increase of 12.6%. That included the addition of over 900 advisers from Waddell & Reed and over 200 from M&T.