LPL picks up $520 million hybrid firm from Wells Fargo

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has netted a $520 million hybrid advisory firm from Wells Fargo Advisors' Financial Network. In an announcement Tuesday, LPL said it had in June picked up Goss Wealth Management, a hybrid broker-dealer and registered investment adviser in Baton Rouge, La. The announcement comes as LPL's investment adviser custody unit has seen 56.6% growth in assets over the past year. The firm currently holds about $78 billion for about 282 registered investment advisers, up from around $50 billion last year, according to InvestmentNews data. Goss Wealth management comprises four advisers, including founder Jerry Goss, his son Alex, George F. Sins III and Matthew Duplechain. They managed around $520 million at Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, the independent broker-dealer arm of Wells Fargo & Co. The advisers had transferred around $100 million to LPL by August, according Alex Goss, who is president of Goss Wealth Management. Having added more since then, Alex Goss said he expects 96% of the brokerage assets to transfer and 98%, or around $240 million, of the advisory assets to transfer. Once the transition is complete, the next step is to focus on building out Goss Wealth Management branch offices in the Gulf South region in order to create what Mr. Goss called a “wirehouse lite.” “It is the best of the wirehouse world where you have the ability to work in one branch office environment with back office support,” he said. “And it is the best of the independent world in terms of getting higher payouts and having flexibility.” The firm is focused on recruiting wirehouse advisers who may have grown up at a regional firm and are looking to return to that model. Mr. Goss said he is prepared to offer a wirehouse-lite version of the lofty recruiting bonuses that larger firms commonly pay to recruit veteran talent. “In our world, it's not a typical bonus as it's more toward offsetting the transition costs,” he said. “But for the right adviser, we'll come out of pocket to attract them if we think it's worth it.”