Hub International acquires RIA with $850 million in retirement plan assets

Hub International, a firm new to the ranks of 401(k)-focused RIA aggregators, has acquired a Texas-based advisory firm overseeing roughly $850 million in retirement-plan assets. IPS Advisors, based in Dallas, is also an independent life and health insurance brokerage and consulting firm. The firm is shifting its advisory business to Hub's registered investment adviser from its own, IPS RIA, said David Reich, Hub's national president of retirement services. It will keep its brokerage business with Lion Street Financial, he said. Hub, an insurance brokerage, has traditionally bought firms similar to IPS Advisors (with an employee-benefits and insurance footprint), but only within the last several months began focusing on firms with large 401(k) practices. Mr. Reich, formerly head of the Retirement Partners group at LPL Financial, joined Hub in September to helm the effort. Consolidation appears to have picked up among independent retirement plan advisers seeking greater support in the face of business pressures such as regulation and fee compression. There are roughly 15 so-called RIA aggregators focused on the retirement market. These firms actively gather a significant amount of plan assets through acquisition of advisory firms or via those firms' affiliation with the aggregator's RIA and/or broker-dealer.