Top Commonwealth advisor to recruiters: Stop with the cold calls already!

A senior financial advisor registered with Commonwealth Financial Network since 1994 is getting a bit fed up with the barrage of cold calls from recruiters at other firms, which has turned into a distraction since LPL Financial Holdings said at the end of March it was buying its rival for $2.7 billion in cash.

The calls have gotten so bad that oneadvisor, Thomas J. Batholomew, head of his eponymous firm, wrote a post on LinkedIn last week saying the recruiters should not waste time calling him. 

“I respectfully request that all recruiters for other BDs discontinue their efforts to contact me in the effort to convince Bartholomew & Company to consider alternative options,” wrote Bartholomew, president and CEO. “You’re efforts are increasingly convincing me that we’ve made the correct decision to work with Commonwealth and make certain that the LPL acquisition succeeds. Thank you for your understanding."

“I think Bartholomew has a point,” said one senior industry executive who spoke privately to InvestmentNews about the matter. “Advisors want the calls to stop, but of course they won’t.”

“These advisors are the cream of the crop for the industry, and average $1 million per year in revenue,” the executive said. “Of course they’re getting a lot of attention.”

As soon as LPL announced its acquisition of Commonwealth at the end of March, the 2,700 advisors at the latter firm have been inundated with offers from competing firms. LPL has said its target is to retain 90% of the $285 billion in assets controlled by Commonwealth’s advisors.

LPL’s competitors, including Raymond James Financial, Cambridge Investment Research, Cetera Financial Group and Osaic, are doing their best to recruit advisors so LPL doesn’t meet its goal. Commonwealth Financial Network advisors are attractive hires because they are, on average, the top producing advisors on average in terms of annual revenue. Their businesses are also heavily weighted to revenue from fees rather than commissions, another incredibly attractive quality.

To calm the waters, LPL has made an unusual move to reassure nervous Commonwealth advisors that the firm’s brand will survive the merger. Indeed, LPL has guaranteed to keep the Commonwealth name intact or the loans they include in the Commonwealth’s advisors work agreement will be canceled, turning into free money for the advisor.

For Bartholomew, who said his firm manages more than $5 billion in client assets, rushing to jump to another firm doesn’t make sense. Such a decision requires more time and work than he has at the moment, and the calls are a distraction for everyone at the firm.

That’s why he asked the recruiters to stop calling, he said in an interview with InvestmentNews Monday morning.

“My phone goes off at all hours of the day, seven days a week, and it’s not productive,” Batholomew said. “It’s getting in the way of taking care of clients.”

“We get dozens of calls during busy week,” he said, adding that he is staying put, at least for now. “LPL has promised to do everything that we wanted, so we’re giving them a chance.”