A Houston-based advisor (and former skilled tennis participant) with $725 million in managed belongings is transferring to LPL Monetary from Financial institution of America, based on the impartial dealer/vendor.
Alberto Francis is forming Rockview Non-public Wealth through his transfer to LPL Non-public Wealth Administration, the agency’s worker affiliation mannequin for advisors centered on high-net-worth purchasers.
Francis had quick stints at JP Morgan and LPL earlier than becoming a member of Merrill in 2018, based on SEC information. He’s the son of Irish and Mexican immigrants and spent three years on the ATP Tour skilled tennis circuit, together with showing at Wimbledon (he was additionally a former NCAA Champion and All-American from UCLA). He accomplished his MBA at Stanford in 2011 earlier than becoming a member of the trade.
Francis works with high-net-worth enterprise house owners, athletes and medical and legislation professionals. He stated he’d been engaged on a transfer into investments, planning and customised companies along with his personal follow.
“I’ve gained the mandatory enterprise expertise to make a profitable transfer into the impartial area and stay up for having extra management over the subsequent chapter of my profession,” he stated.
The LPL Non-public Wealth channel affords advisors a wide range of companies tailor-made to HNW purchasers, together with property and philanthropic planning, trustee companies and an alternate funding platform. Francis stated he selected “Rockview” as a moniker in tribute to the Irish property the place 5 generations of his household lived.
“The flexibility to craft dynamic, client-focused methods with out the constraints of proprietary merchandise means I can concentrate on what’s finest for my purchasers and their futures,” he stated.
This yr alone, LPL has attracted quite a few groups from Merrill/Financial institution of America, together with Oklahoma Metropolis-based advisors Alain Verhille and James Wooden, who managed about $705 million at Merrill earlier than becoming a member of LPL Non-public Wealth Administration. LPL additionally attracted a $1 billion Doylestown, Pa..-based staff to its premium affiliation mannequin and grabbed former Merrill groups totaling $820 million and $580 million from Texas and Florida, respectively.
Nonetheless, LPL can be going through a number of fits calling for sophistication actions in opposition to the agency, alleging its money sweep applications violated its obligations to purchasers. Like many corporations, LPL has a program to robotically switch (or “sweep”) uninvested money balances into “interest-bearing” accounts. In separate fits, LPL purchasers Dan Peters and Douglas Nevitt argued that sweep applications at all times boosted LPL income at prospects’ expense.
Nonetheless, based on CEO Dan Arnold, LPL has “no plans” to alter its pricing on money options (in contrast to opponents like Morgan Stanley, Financial institution of America and Wells Fargo, which have introduced potential sweep account shifts). Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo are additionally going through scrutiny from the SEC over their money sweep applications.