Lehman Bros.' binding ties and culture spur another $1B team -- that stayed at their posts as Lehman burned -- to flee Stifel-owned Barclays for RIA

Summit Trail’s search illustrates the limitations of a conventional brokerage format in supporting advisory services. Dynasty has emerged as an attractive candidate, yet there is extraordinary room for innovation. Recruiters are swift to sell what they have (triggering a transaction and their compensation) and are rarely introspective concerning the advisor. There is a difference in a firm acting in fiduciary capacity as a money manager (which is geared to avoiding fraud) and an advisor rendering individualized advice fulfilling their many ongoing fiduciary duties. The industry’s primary focus on asset management has ignored the advisor’s principal fiduciary duties in rendering ongoing individualized advice, which is presently not supported by anyone for fear of fiduciary liability. This is not a good thing. The key to authenticity and reliability in advisory services (and market share) is the authentication (back to statute) and support of expert advisory services. This is beyond the challenging asset management/portfolio construction function. As Summit Trail discovered there is not a single brokerage firm, including Lehman, or a rollup that has distinguished themselves in being accountable for every recommendation their advisors have ever made, achieving continuous comprehensive counsel required by statute of all those rendering “individualized” advice (acting as advisors). This is an industry wide problem, yet for those that embrace the requisite innovation in the best interest of the investing public, market share is theirs for the taking.

SCW
Stephen Winks