Raymond James aims to broaden Western presence
With layoffs, mergers and acquisitions shaking up the financial industry, Raymond James & Associates is seizing the opportunity to recruit new stockbrokers for its Western branches.
"Expanding during a downturn, if you have financial capital, is really good," CEO Paul Reilly said Tuesday during a visit to its Las Vegas branches.
Raymond James Financial, the brokerage's holding company, has 89 consecutive quarters of profits and has emerged from the near meltdown on Wall Street with strong financial resources, he said.
Brokers are leaving many giant broker-dealers, either because of layoffs or dissatisfaction with new management that came with mergers.
"In the month of May, 13,000 registered representatives changed firms in the United States. That's an all-time record by the way," said the local manager at an investment advisory firm, who spoke anonymously because he hadn't received clearance for a news interview.
Nevada Securities Administrator Carolyn Ellsworth said she has noticed a huge turnover in the securities industry since she took her position a year and a half ago.
"Obviously, the large broker-dealer firms laid off people," she said. "Some of them have worked their entire career in the industry, and they don't know how to do anything else."
Some of the dislocated brokers find new jobs in smaller firms, she said.
Raymond James believes havoc in the financial industry makes this a great time to grow, but at least one rival treated Raymond James like an alligator at the company picnic.
In February, Raymond James announced that it agreed to pay $12 million for "raiding" four A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. branches shortly after Wachovia Securities announced the acquisition of A.G. Edwards.
In 2008, Wells Fargo Advisors acquired Wachovia, giving the remaining former A.G. Edwards employees a second jolt.
Raymond James disagreed with the arbitration panel's ruling, saying the A.G. Edwards brokers were considering switching to other securities firms because of the merger with Wachovia.
Raymond James started as a regional brokerage in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1962, but it has grown to a firm with 5,300 financial advisers around the country and abroad.
It established a strong presence in the Midwest, but Reilly wants to increase the sales staff in Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington and Canada.
"The last real push is out West," Reilly said.
Raymond James will keep hiring as long as it can find quality brokers, he said.
"We don't go for any size. We go for quality," he said.
Raymond James entered the Las Vegas market in October. The firm has five offices in Southern Nevada today, along with three in Reno.
Retirees, many of whom move to Las Vegas with a lifetime of savings and investments, make the area attractive to Raymond James.
"We want to be able to serve our clients anywhere in the country that they move to," Reilly said.
Raymond James serves a wide variety of clients. Some have $50,000 in their brokerage accounts; others have millions of dollars.
"We have ultrawealthy clients, and we have clients that are just trying to build their way up," Reilly said.
Brokerage-industry tumult also has helped Raymond James in a second way, analysts say.
Some brokers are leaving securities firms and establishing independent investment advisory firms, either as one-man operations or in partnerships with others.
These firms need an outside company to execute buy and sell orders. So they rely on companies like Pershing Advisor Solutions, Legent Clearing and Raymond James for that service.
Contact reporter John G. Edwards
at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.
