Qualifying advisor moves fall to 18 from 42 in week to Nov. 13

Qualifying advisor moves fell to 18 in the week to Nov. 13 from 42 the week before, according to Private Wealth Daily's Moves Wire. Moves to RIA and independent firms dropped to six from 18, and moves to wirehouses fell to one from nine. The Moves Wire classes 11 of the 18 as team moves and three as breakaways.

The 42 moves in the week to Nov. 6 were the most of the eight weeks the Moves Wire shows, against 28 in the next-busiest week, to Oct. 16. The week to Oct. 30 also had 18 moves. This week's six RIA-bound moves fall within the range of four to six recorded in the three weeks from Oct. 16 to Oct. 30. The week to Nov. 6, with 18 RIA-bound moves, is the outlier.

For RIAs recruiting, independent broker-dealers supplied more RIA-bound moves than wirehouses over the four weeks to Nov. 13, six against four, according to the Moves Wire. Only four of 23 wirehouse departures in that period went to RIA or independent channels, 21.1%. Seven went to regional and bank firms. This week's one wirehouse-to-RIA move was the LegacyCoast Private Wealth breakaway: two UBS advisors with a reported $480 million, according to InvestmentNews and Private Wealth Daily. The Moves Wire classified 62 moves by channel over the four weeks and left 39 unclassified.

The largest reported team move of the four weeks was about 70 Synovus Securities advisors joining Pinnacle Asset Management with $18.7 billion, according to InvestmentNews. That is more than three times the next-largest reported book: $5.9 billion for the Barnett, Coon, Armitage, Leach and Moore Group's move from Merrill Lynch to Morgan Stanley, according to AdvisorHub. The Moves Wire records $25 billion in reported books across 12 of this week's moves, so the Synovus team accounts for most of the week's disclosed total. Book sizes are as stated in the cited coverage and are not verified figures or net flows.

Morgan Stanley was the destination for three of the eight largest books, together $10.4 billion, according to AdvisorHub. Besides the Barnett group, they were the Bell Coast Group, with $3.0 billion from RBC Wealth Management-U.S., and the Steelman Aguirre Private Wealth Management Group, with $1.5 billion from Merrill Lynch. Two of the three came from Merrill Lynch.

Andy Harris's breakaway from Commonwealth Financial Network to Kintra Wealth, LLC carried a reported $4.3 billion, according to WealthManagement.com. ICG left LPL Financial for Osaic with a reported $2.3 billion, according to IREI, the Osaic newsroom and Private Wealth Daily. KKM Wealth Partners moved from PNC Private Bank to Raymond James & Associates/Alex. Brown with a reported $1.5 billion, according to WealthManagement.com.

RIA and wealth deals fell to 85 in the week to Nov. 13, against a four-week average of 141.5, according to Private Wealth Daily's tally of deals reported in its coverage. Closings outnumbered announcements, 44 to 41, the first week in the 12-week series with more closed deals than announced. Because the tally counts reported transactions, it reflects what was reported as well as what was signed.

Announcements fell from 237 in the week to Aug. 28 to 41 this week. Closings peaked at 165 in the week to Oct. 2. Closings follow announcements, so the thinner announcement counts of recent weeks would likely mean fewer closings in the weeks ahead, though that is an inference, not a reported figure.

KKR was the most frequent named acquirer over the 12 weeks, with eight deals, followed by Hightower with seven and Apella Wealth and BKM Capital Partners with six each, according to the same tally. Acquirers are as named in the coverage, and the list includes non-RIA buyers such as Kayne Anderson Real Estate, with five. Beacon Pointe Advisors, also with five deals, brought in Brennan Cross and Daniel Archer from ACT Wealth Management with a reported $637 million, according to WealthManagement.com.