Harbor Lights team leaves LPL for Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network

A trio of financial advisers managing about $350 million of assets at Harbor Lights Financial Group have left LPL Financial for the independent brokerage arm of Wells Fargo & Co. Co-founding partners Doug Lockwood, Rob Tendler and Ken Roberts of wealth management firm Harbor Lights Financial in Manasquan, N.J. are now running their practice within the Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network. They joined last week, Mr. Lockwood said. The independent firm had considered switching broker-dealers over the past year as it sought to protect its business and clients in anticipation of the Labor Department's fiduciary rule, which was released in early April, according to Mr. Lockwood. Harbor Lights was seeking a partner that could help deliver the level of customer service it needs to double its assets and revenue over the next decade, he said, as well as navigate the new regulatory environment. “We talked to a lot of other firms,” he said. “It's a little sketchy these days with what's coming out of Washington.” (More: Coverage of the DOL rule from every angle ) The fiduciary rule, which requires advisers to act in their clients' best interests when assisting them with retirement accounts, has roiled the brokerage industry with more than 1,000 pages of new regulation. Firms have been scrambling to analyze it before the first stage of implementation must begin next year. Mr. Lockwood said Wells Fargo has the resources his firm needs to stay on top of the changes and help ensure compliance. The Harbor Lights co-founders had been with LPL since September 2008, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.'s BrokerCheck. "We wish Harbor Light Financial Group well. While we respect their decision to find the best fit for them, we are proud of our industry leading advisor production retention rate of 97 percent," said Lauren Hoyt-Williams, a spokeswoman for LPL.