LPL Financial Recruited Assets Jump 35% in Second Quarter
LPL Financial said its recruited assets were $25 billion during the second quarter, up 35% from a year ago and about 47% sequentially, as the firm’s recruiters return to their organic recruiting efforts.
The firm has recruited $89 billion over the trailing 12-month period, the company reported.
LPL is on track to complete the conversion of Commonwealth Financial Network, acquired last year, in the fourth quarter of 2026. And as it approaches that conversion, the firm has more capacity to engage directly with advisors, said Rich Steinmeier, CEO of LPL, on the second quarter earnings call.
“So when you think about that second half of the year, we should be able to return to more normalized levels, not only of recruiting, but continuing to build the pipeline,” he said. “And so that makes us confident in our ability to deliver mid to high single-digit growth over time.”
The firm added about $23 billion in assets in its traditional independent channel, he said, and another $2 billion in recruited assets in LPL’s expanded affiliation models. LPL took a pause in its recruiting efforts in the institutional channel because the Commonwealth transition was so extensive. But Steinmeier said he expects that recruiting to pick back up.
The firm’s executives did not address recent layoffs of Commonwealth back-office employees, which have been reported by several publications. LPL has retained Commonwealth assets in the mid-80% range and expects to reach its target retention of 90% of client assets.
Steinmeier said the firm is nearing the completion of the technology and capability builds needed for the conversion. That includes advancing householding capabilities and modernizing its case management platform.
“These capabilities not only enable the Commonwealth conversion, but also accelerate the delivery of core functionality for the benefit of all LPL advisors and institutions,” Steinmeier said on Thursday’s earnings call. “In parallel, we are ramping up our training efforts to ensure that our Commonwealth teammates are positioned to continue delivering exceptional service to existing Commonwealth advisors and that Commonwealth advisors and their support staff are ready to hit the ground running following the conversion to the LPL platform.”
Chief Financial Officer Matt Audette said he now estimates a run-rate EBITDA of about $435 million once Commonwealth is fully integrated, up from $410 million.
Overall, second-quarter adjusted earnings per share were $5.84, beating analyst expectations by $0.46, according to SeekingAlpha.com. Quarterly revenue of $5.19 billion was up 35% year-over-year, beating expectations by $170 million. Client assets totaled $2.6 trillion, up 10% from the first quarter.
Advisor headcount was 32,475 at the end of the second quarter, up 1% from the first quarter.
