Two aggressive lenders, LPL Financial and Ameriprise Financial, issued competing announcements this week touting recent hiring success.
Ameriprise on Wednesday said it has acquired Manhattan Beach, California-based Kinecta Federal Credit Union, which manages about $2 billion in assets and uses LPL.
Meanwhile, LPL on Thursday said it won the Ameriprise group that runs $ 500 million in McAllen, Texas. A spokesperson for LPL clarified that it was not the first recent independent dealer assignment from its Minneapolis-based rival.
“This is Ameriprise’s third announcement in a week,” a spokeswoman wrote. “Together, these groups add up to more than $1B AUM.”
The announcements reflect a hot market for independent brokers and increasing competition to serve brokers at private banks and credit unions.
Thursday’s LPL announcement included McAllen-based Strategic Insights Financial Planning Group, which moved on March 27. It is led by 37-year-old Ameriprise lifer Arthur Hughes and includes James Credo, James Enriques, Alexis Villarreal and Leonardo Chang. Hughes, who founded the group in 1986, did not respond to a request for comment sent through social media, according to the release.
The group praised LPL’s technology, including a “single sign-on” approach to view customer information as well as the firm’s ability to self-regulate.
LPL on Wednesday said it has hired another group called Somnio Wealth from Ameriprise that manages $300 million in assets. The Louisville, Kentucky-based team is led by consultants Greg Mullaney, Colleen Kelly Abate and Peter Pagano, according to the release.
The team, ranked #33 in the Forbes’ This year’s top wealth management teams joined the LPL on February 28, according to registration records. Somnio Wealth includes six client partners, according to their LPL website. Three Somnio group advisors, Jennifer Dohery, Brian Meyer and Thomas Temeyer, remained at Ameriprise, a regional business spokeswoman confirmed.
Last week, LPL announced it had hired an Ameriprise executive to manage $210 million in consumer goods in Sarasota, Florida. The broker, Matthew L. Edwards, joined the San Diego-based firm on February 20, according to BrokerCheck. He started his career in 2009, according to the database.
An Ameriprise spokesman declined to comment on individual departures. “As it relates to LPL, I will highlight the announcement we made yesterday regarding Kinecta Federal Credit Union moving its wealth management program to Ameriprise,” he added.
Ameriprise announced Wednesday that it will be a trading and refining firm for Kinecta. The transition is expected to be completed by the end of this year, according to the announcement.
Kinecta Wealth Management includes approximately 20 financial advisors with assets in excess of $2 billion, according to the release.
“Our new partnership with Ameriprise Financial allows us to provide superior service supported by powerful digital tools and technology to help our clients achieve their goals with greater confidence,” said Donna McNeely, president of Kinecta Financial Management Company, said in a statement.
Kinecta Federal Credit Union, which also has offices in New York and Florida, has more than 270,000 banking customers with assets of $6.8 billion, according to the announcement.
LPL, the leading independent retailer, finished 2023 with 22,660 sellers, up 6% year-on-year.
Ameriprise has approximately 10,367 salespeople, 8,139 of whom are independent contractors. Its independent position was flat year-on-year.
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