LPL Financial is working hard to bring over the 3,200 advisors at the National Planning Holdings’ four B-Ds, according to Andy Kalbaugh, managing director of national sales and consulting.
LPL has “shared the math” with NPH reps on their individually negotiated bonuses, Kalbaugh told reporters Monday at LPL Retirement Partners conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. The major points of the discussion are about the service and support that LPL offers, he said of the transition efforts.
LPL has hosted 20 regional meetings and has two calls a week for NPH advisors, Kalbaugh added. In addition, a dedicated support team has been set up and seven relationship managers brought over from NPH to help with the transition.
While some industry recruiters and NPH-affiliated reps say LPL’s mammoth size isn’t what NPH advisors bargained for, Kalbaugh said LPL is playing up its size and scale.
“We don’t run from being big,” he told reporters. “We’re a sustainable market leader.”
The NPH network includes National Planning Corp., SII, INVEST, and Investment Centers of America.
The NPH firms “do not have nearly the support structure we’ve got,” Kalbaugh told the 300 attendees at the meeting. “We think we can make a material impact in helping them grow their businesses.”
Separately, LPL recently put in place a $50 million LPL-custodied asset minimum for new hybrid advisors, Kalbaugh told the crowd. Margins on the hybrid platform were “challenged,” he said, and at the same time some 60 percent to 70 percent of recruits are joining the hybrid offering.
Hybrid business isn’t very profitable for B-Ds if assets are held at a competing custodian.
“We felt that [new asset requirement] was about the right level,” Kalbaugh said, adding that LPL remains committed to the hybrid business.