Cetera Financial Group announced Wednesday the hiring of 16-year LPL Financial veteran Michael Murray as head of business development. Murray had been a senior vice president and head of the western region for LPL's business development group.
The move marked the latest broadside among independent broker-dealers as the battle to recruit reps from rival firms intensifies. Ever since LPL acquired four broker-dealers from National Planning Holdings (NPH) last year, an all-out recruiting frenzy in the IBD space has erupted. It shows few signs of slowing down.
Cetera Financial Group emerged from bankruptcy in 2016, a rare feat for any brokerage firm. In 2017, it managed to recruit 784 new reps, according to CEO Robert Moore. "We are thrilled to have someone of Michael's insights and energy join our firm," Moore said.
Moore himself had previously served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer of LPL before leaving in 2014 to become CEO of the U.S. arm of a global asset management firm. In 2016, he was named CEO of Cetera Financial Group just as it was emerging from bankruptcy.
Recruiting Murray may heighten industry impressions of the fierce rivalry between Cetera and LPL. But Murray's decision to move from LPL to Cetera is also a vote of confidence in Cetera, whose board of directors retained Goldman Sachs to explore strategic options raised questions about whether Cetera was for sale.
LPL, other IBDs and private equity firms were viewed as possible acquirers of Cetera. However, the decision of a high-level LPL insider like Murray to move to Cetera caused some to question that scenario.
"This move shows that Mike Murray obviously doesn’t believe LPL is going to buy Cetera, despite all the rumblings out there in the industry today,” Jeff Nash, CEO of BridgeMark Strategies, a third-party recruiter, noted.
Since arriving at Cetera, Moore has placed an emphasis on several different strategies. These include recruiting big hybrid super OSJs and attracting new young talent into the profession. The latter is a special passion for Moore, who believes his company can assist Cetera-affiliated advisors with continuity and succession plans.
Meanwhile, the recruiting wars that were spawned by the LPL-NPH acquisition have taken on a life of their own, with most B-Ds targeting multiple rivals. Many successful advisors in the IBD space are receiving huge offers to switch firms to such an extent that compliance experts are now questioning whether the incentive packages, including forgiveable loans, could raise questions from regulators.