Big broker-dealers making a run at Commonwealth advisors

Big-time competitors of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. are taking a shot at recruiting the 2,900 financial advisors currently registered at Commonwealth Financial Network, a leading broker-dealer and registered investment advisor that LPL said it was buying at the end of last month for $2.7 billion in cash.

When LPL said it was acquiring Commonwealth, it released its target for the percent of financial advisors it is seeking to retain: 90%.

It may be a stretch for LPL to hit that goal, according to industry executives interviewed on Thursday. When one wealth management firms buys another, competitors invariably seek to upset the apple cart and hire away top financial advisors, who are typically inundated with calls from recruiters during such transaction.

LPL’s top competition for Commonwealth’s advisors, who manage $285 billion in client assets, include Raymond James Financial Inc., Kestra Financial Inc. and Cetera Financial Group, according to industry executives who spoke privately to InvestmentNews on Thursday.

InvestmentNews on March 19 first reported that LPL was gearing up for another major acquisition, an area of expertise for the industry behemoth.

The competition is so fierce that Cetera wealth Management president Todd Mackay on Thursday posted a direct appeal to Commonwealth’s financial advisors on its website, an unusual move even for the dog eat dog world of hiring financial advisors.

“I can unequivocally say that Cetera stands for a truly independent environment, a community driven approach to our advisors’ relationships and the alignment of our purpose with the purpose of our advisors,” Mackay wrote in his pitch to Commonwealth advisors. “As a result, I believe we have created the best culture for advisors in the country.”

Spokespeople for Raymond James and Kestra did not return calls to comment by deadline. 

LPL’s move to buy Commonwealth caught the vast majority of Commonwealth’s advisors flat-footed, industry executives said. For decades, the two have been rivals, with LPL always the largest firm in terms of number of advisors and assets and Commonwealth its antithesis, a boutique that focused on technology and catered to the highest producing independent contract advisors on the Street.

“Commonwealth branded itself as the opposite of LPL,” said one executive.

A plus for LPL is hanging onto Commonwealth’s advisors is its stated purpose to retain the firm’s brand, culture and staff, those executives said.

LPL Financial is an acquisition machine, completing deals to purchase several large broker-dealers in the past several years.

Meanwhile, Commonwealth Financial has been the object of industry speculation for the past year that it was seeking an outside investor to pay off the senior partners, some of whom have worked at Commonwealth for more than 30 years.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025, and the conversion to the LPL platform is expected to be completed in mid-2026, subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions.