LPL recruiters jump to Ameriprise bank broker

Ameriprise Financial Inc. is bolstering its presence in the bank broker market, this week snagging two recruiters from rival LPL Financial. The two, Justin Quillen and Iain Balfour, moved their securities registration to Investment Professionals Inc. on Tuesday, according to their BrokerCheck reports. They were both assistant vice presidents for business development at LPL. Ameriprise announced in April 2017 its purchase of Investment Professionals Inc., an independent broker-dealer based in San Antonio, Texas, that focuses on the market for independent reps to operate in banks and credit unions. Founded in 1992, Investment Professionals has close to 200 registered representatives and had assets totaling more than $8 billion at the end of 2016. A spokesman for Ameriprise, John Brine, confirmed that both recruiters were hired. He declined further comment. A spokesman for LPL, Jeff Mochal, did not return a call to comment. Mr. Quillen had worked at LPL since 2008 and Mr. Balfour had been employed there since 2016, according to their BrokerCheck reports. Ameriprise competitors like LPL and Cetera Financial Group are well established in the bank broker market. Ameriprise has dubbed the bank channel Ameriprise Financial Institutions, and advisers will operate either under that name or the name of the bank where they work. The company intends to launch the bank platform in September and recruit advisers to the broker-dealer with the full suite of Ameriprise products and services. Meanwhile, LPL continues to see turnover in its recruiting department, by far the largest in the independent broker-dealer industry with dozens of internal and external recruiters looking for financial advisers. In May, InvestmentNews reported that LPL had seen several senior and mid-level recruiters jump ship or retire.