Adviser recruitment on track for record-breaking year

More than 4,000 advisers and brokers switched firms in the first quarter of the year, putting 2021 on pace for record industry recruitment activity.

Moves of experienced advisers between firms were up 11% compared with the first quarter of 2020 and were higher than any other quarter going back to 2018.

The data, which come from the InvestmentNews Advisers on the Move database, exclude transitions between affiliated firms and those that result from a merger or acquisition.

Registered investment advisers and independent broker-dealers continued to set the pace, with net adviser gains of 517 and 504, respectively. That’s nearly double their net gains in the comparable quarter last year, when RIAs recruited 304 more advisers than they lost and independent broker-dealers gained 283.

The year-over-year growth in recruiting activity is significant. Although adviser moves ultimately slowed in 2020 amid social distancing and remote work, the decline began in the second quarter. Industry growth, competition and advisers’ taste for independence had kept recruitment activity on a yearslong climb before lockdowns interrupted.

Now, after three straight quarters of year-over-year declines, industry recruitment is returning to its pre-pandemic pace and then some. Compared with 2019, adviser moves are set to rise 27% at their current rate.

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