After winning a $1-billion RIA, Raymond James fills a void by hiring a true-blue elite RIA executive

Brooke’s Note: Schwab, TD Ameritrade and Fidelity have always constituted an effective oligopoly in the RIA custody business — with Pershing arguably making it a Big Four. That rule-by-the-few structure remains but custody players large and small compete and all of them are in play. See: A peek inside the rising RIA custodians fighting to overtake the Big Four. After RBC flew then largely fizzled, LPL Financial has made good noise. Quality firms like Trust Company of America hold their ground. Raymond James has long lurked. But this article suggests that for the Florida broker-dealer a patient, long-term plan is playing out. This hire is a sign that the company is ready to more aggressively court advisors and prospects that the Big Three or Four would covet.

In a de facto phase two in its efforts to get a firm foothold in the RIA custody business, Raymond James has recruited a business development veteran who most recently worked with many of Fidelity Investment’s premier RIA custody clients.

St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Raymond James brought over Maria Daley, 52, from Boston-based Fidelity to serve in the newly created post of senior vice president of strategic growth for the Raymond James RIA unit — the Investment Advisors division. She will report directly to Bill Van Law, president of the division.

The hire coincides with Raymond James bringing aboard a billion-dollar RIA and the company’s acknowledgement that serving bigger practices may require an upping of its game.

“I was looking for someone with this specific RIA experience that Maria has,” says Van Law. “As we’re looking to support existing advisors and looking to attract new ones and expand the platform having someone with intimate knowledge of the RIA space is critically important.”

Based in Chicago, Daley was vice president and senior relationship manager at Fidelity for the past three years. Before that, she served as a business development officer at Schwab Advisor Services. A Fidelity spokesperson declined to comment for this story.

Backwater no more?

In 2012, Van Law was installed as chief of Raymond James’s RIA effort, long a backwater at the company, and his credentials are impeccable enough — but with no experience in a pure RIA realm. See: Raymond James launches a separate RIA unit and appoints a former Merrill Lynch breakaway to head it.

When he first joined Raymond James, he was an 18-year veteran and million-dollar producer for Merrill Lynch and also a branch manager and then district sales manager. In 1997, Van Law gave up his book of business and became complex director of Florida’s Canaveral territory from Jacksonville. In 2002, he left that position to run a bigger Merrill Lynch territory in North Carolina. He left Merrill Lynch entirely before Christmas 2002 and joined Raymond James at the start of 2003.

Though Daley’s résumé doesn’t contain managerial muscularity of her new boss, it covers many RIA bases — particularly with big sophisticated RIAs whose clients include the ultra-wealthy. This gives her confidence that she can be a difference maker in her new role.

“One of the many things that attracted me to Raymond James was that I could really help shape and grow the platform. I can help affect change with Bill and the team. That was very appealing to me,” says Daley, who will move from Chicago to St. Petersburg, Fla. next year. (Daley is not related to the famous Chicago political family.)

At Raymond James, Daley will oversee the director of administration and its staffers as well as the director of service operations and its team. She will be tasked with working with existing RIAs as well as recruiting new ones and bolstering the firm’s technology platform.

Relational capital

Cecile Munoz, president Los Angeles-based U.S. Executive Search and Consulting, doesn’t know Daley, but judging from the advisor’s resume says Raymond James made a smart move in recruiting her.

“Her hire brings a notable competitive advantage to Raymond James IAD due to her depth of experience in this segment of the market, specifically with the top two custodians (Schwab and Fidelity),” says Munoz. “She knows how to deliver an integrated offering to advisors. Maria brings the experience, expertise and above all relational capital gleaned from years of working directly with some of the most successful RIAs in the market. This is the thought leadership and expertise that has been, and I believe will continue to be, the tip of the spear of knowledge and talent that is heavily sought after by broker-dealers and wealth management firms.”

One notable differentiator for Daley, beyond her time at Fidelity and Schwab, is her long stint at a buttoned-down RIA firm.

Daley spent the first nine years of her career doing business development for Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management, a giant RIA and trust company roll-up that eventually encompassed Pell Rudman Trust Co., Stein Roe Investment Counsel and Whitehall Asset Management. Atlantic serves $20 billion in assets on behalf of its high-net-worth individuals, families, foundations and endowments in 12 metropolitan locations across the United States.

In 2013, Invesco Ltd. sold Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management for $210 million to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canada’s fifth-largest bank. See: What’s up with Invesco offloading its $20-billion RIA/trust firm to a Canadian bank — and at a bargain price?.

Triple recruiting

Raymond James’ RIA platform has been around for years but it was little known until fall 2013 when Van Law relaunched the effort and focused on offering more streamlined pricing. See: A few things I learned about the Raymond James RIA effort in an NYC sit-down with Bill Van Law.

Since then, Van Law says, the RIA group has grown apace. This year, he says, new RIA recruits will triple that of last year’s recruits. Moreover, Van Law says, his unit is on target to meet its self-imposed goal of doubling business in the RIA division in three years. Raymond James details total assets but doesn’t differentiate its RIA division. See: After 'disturbing’ RIA losses at Raymond James, Bill Van Law is going on offense — starting with hires of veteran LPL and Fidelity execs.

“As a result of the growth that we’ve had, we’ve added half a dozen positions in the last six months,” Van Law says. “What resonates is we are competing and winning and that we’ve got a comprehensive platform and a number of other services such as securities-based lending. I feel extremely good about how things are going.”

Here to stay

Todd Taylor: The lack of internal
strife is a big reason why
their story is so genuine, and
advisors get it.

It’s not unusual to see dramatic growth after a company launches a new division, but Van Law is convinced that advisors are now perceiving Raymond James as a key player in the RIA movement.

“The big part of the shift is where the advisors are coming from,” he says. “We’re getting advisors from other markets. Much of the growth has always been wirehouses but now it’s independent broker-dealers and other firms. We’re investing in leading solutions and the result is we’re looking at adding more advisors who are excited about the resources we have and helping our current advisors grow their business.” See: Raymond James adds 20 advisors, and their $1.9B of assets, as part of investment banking purchase.

Entrepreneurial culture

But while Raymond James is able to poach from all channels, it somehow manages to handle its different channels without internal jealousies, according to Todd Taylor, a partner in the New York office of financial services firm Heidrick & Struggles, whose headquarters are in Chicago.

“Raymond James has done a terrific job, and arguably the best, among firms with dual channels. They are a firm that is hitting on all their cylinders right now. I think a big part of this is who they are at the core — their independent and entrepreneurial culture …. This has allowed both their independent and employee channels to be supported equally across the enterprise. For them, there is no internal debate or conflict.” See: How I survived switching custodians twice in one year, and how you can, too.

Taylor adds: “They realize that the individual will have their own preferences and reasons in selecting the model best for them. The lack of internal strife is a big reason why their story is so genuine, and advisors get it. This has enabled them to partner across the channels and to also attract the high-caliber talent they continue to see coming in the door.”

This big tent mantra is not new at Raymond James but the quantitative success of the RIA unit remains subdued. The company lustily reports its IBD and captive broker growth but remains coy about disclosing the size of the RIA business.

(Note: Raymond James is hardly alone in transparency regarding amounts of RIA assets in custody. Schwab Advisor Services was always most forthright but has recently begun mixing in non-RIA assets, muddying the picture. Fidelity has always mixed in trust and other assets. LPL Financial RIA assets include tens of billions of dollars of transactional assets overseen by RIAs. Pershing Advisor Solutions folds in BNY Mellon asset custody numbers. TD Ameritrade declines to break out RIA assets. Some smaller custodians like Shareholders Service Group Inc. simply decline to disclose asset numbers at all.)

Fortified platform

The teams coming to Raymond James are much larger this year, says Van Law, adding that one of RJ’s attractions is its lending capabilities.

Van Law declined to offer specifics but hints that in the coming weeks, his firm will be able to talk more candidly about a new $1 billion RIA. “Generally speaking, advisors are looking at all of the custodians and aggregators and ultimately the decision is related to the comprehensive platform. In this case, it was lending. This advisor looked at the other custodians and what he wanted was going to be difficult to find at the other custodians. When he looked at Raymond James, he realized our platform is remarkably considerable.”

Most teams arriving at Raymond James have $150 million to $200 million in assets, says Van Law. Raymond James, like a traditional RIA custodian, allows its RIAs to use multiple custodians. About half of the RIAs use more than one custodian. See: The story behind how Raymond James won two big teams from LPL and Wells Fargo in the past couple of weeks.

Team Daley

Daley and Van Law have known each other for years and she has kept her eye on Raymond James’ progress in the RIA arena — and sees the company at a tipping point in addressing this fast-growing market.

“I saw this as a tremendous opportunity,” Daley says. “I’ve been watching Raymond James and watching the growth and things they’re doing. I was attracted to it. I’ve spent a lot of time working for RIAs on the custody side and I have strong business development relationships. Coming down to interview and after seeing everything we can offer to advisors and the strong culture and how robust the platform is, it was such a great opportunity that I couldn’t not get that job. It’s a great opportunity and I had to seize it.” See: Ray-Jay RIA event produces how-I-did-it talks from four high-achieving RIAs.

“It’s a big job,” comments Van Law. She has a team. She’ll have two groups reporting to her regional directors and the service and operations team.” See: Raymond James’ two-hatted Helck addresses his advisor crowd on both levels.