A Pittsburgh firm with about $440 million in managed client assets will be joining LPL Financial from Royal Alliance, part of Advisor Group’s broker/dealer network.
The Monteverde Group has eight advisors in total, serving clients throughout several states, and was founded more than 50 years ago by President and CEO James Monteverde right after he graduated college. The firm began as an insurance practice, before expanding to include wealth management, as well as financial, retirement and estate tax planning services.
In 2001, the firm added Managing Partner Craig Shensa. Shensa said the firm had selected LPL as a new partner for several reasons, including the open architecture provided by the independent broker/dealer’s ClientWorks platform. In an interview with WealthManagement.com, Monteverde said the firm had searched for a new partner for several months and had reached out to several independent broker/dealers before deciding on LPL.
“It was about enhancing and having a much more robust back office for clients,” he said. “From the client’s perspective, it was really the consolidated statements.”
Monteverde said the firm has clients throughout the country, and once the firm is acclimated with the new tech offerings, he expected it would look toward further expansion with LPL’s help.
“We hope to utilize LPL’s back office for growth, going out and buying other firms,” he said. “LPL has a huge operation specifically designed for that, with the money and expertise to help us to do that.”
The deal bringing the Monteverde Group to LPL is the latest in a number of announcements of firms departing Advisor Group’s network for the independent broker/dealer. In late January, Gary Stiles, an advisor with $110 million in managed assets based in New Jersey, joined LPL from Securities America, which is also a part of Advisor Group’s broker/dealer network (last year, Advisor Group announced it would fold three broker/dealers from their prior acquisition of Ladenburg Thalmann into Securities America).
Also in January, the father and son team of John and Evan McCoy of Integrity Financial Services also joined LPL from Securities America (the duo managed $150 million in assets). Additionally, Verus Capital Partners, an Arizona-based firm with about $1 billion in advisory and brokerage assets, joined LPL from Securities America last November.
Rich Steinmeier, LPL's managing director and divisional president for business development, said the company had seen record recruiting last year, noting LPL was the "destination of choice" for 31% more independent advisors who made moves last year than in the year prior.
"We continue to see an increasing flight to quality in the independent space, as well as demand for our platform across channels," he said. "Advisors are responding to our capacity and commitment to deliver a platform that enables them to build a business suited to their needs, as both a trusted advisor to their clients and as a business owner."
LPL has had a busy 2021 in addition to the January acquisitions from Advisor Group; in February, CVG Wealth Management, a $315 million AUM firm based in Santa Barbara, Calif., joined LPL from Wells Fargo Advisors, while WWK, a family-owned business with $675 million in client assets, closed its broker/dealer and RIA to join LPL late last month. The independent broker/dealer also attracted Foran Financial Group, a team based in Somerville, N.J., with $350 million in managed assets, from Raymond James Financial Services in February.