Executive Summary
Advisor recruiting activity remains exceptionally competitive in August, with several billion-dollar teams changing platforms and some of the industry’s largest wealth firms continuing to invest heavily in experienced-advisor recruiting.
The month’s activity reinforces an important shift in the competitive landscape. Advisors increasingly have more choices than the traditional wirehouse-to-wirehouse move. Employee channels, independent broker-dealers, supported independence, RIAs, and hybrid models are all competing for established teams.
Among the most notable developments, Raymond James continued its strong recruiting year, Rockefeller accelerated sharply with several major additions, and Wells Fargo emerged as another significant year-to-date winner.
The broader message is increasingly clear: platform flexibility, business ownership, operational support, culture, and long-term enterprise value are becoming major factors in advisor movement.
Recruiting Wire Scoreboard
The latest AdvisorHub Recruiting Wire data shows meaningful movement since July. Raymond James remains firmly in first place with $18.6 billion in recruited assets, while Rockefeller has surged into second with nearly $7.9 billion. Wells Fargo has also moved into the top three with approximately $7.8 billion recruited.
Recruiting Winners — Year-to-Date
| Rank | Firm | Recruited Assets |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raymond James | $18.6 Billion |
| 2 | Rockefeller Capital Management | $7.9 Billion |
| 3 | Wells Fargo | $7.8 Billion |
| 4 | Steward Partners | $6.1 Billion |
| 5 | Janney Montgomery Scott | $6.1 Billion |
Largest Recruiting Losses
| Rank | Firm | Assets Lost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morgan Stanley | $11.7 Billion |
| 2 | UBS | $10.3 Billion |
| 3 | Merrill Lynch | $8.5 Billion |
| 4 | Commonwealth | $5.2 Billion |
| 5 | Raymond James | $4.4 Billion |
AdvisorHub’s scoreboard also calculates net recruiting, which provides another useful perspective because it accounts for both incoming and departing assets.
Recruiting Leaders — Net Assets
| Rank | Firm | Net Recruited Assets |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raymond James | $14.2 Billion |
| 2 | Rockefeller Capital Management | $7.9 Billion |
| 3 | Steward Partners | $6.1 Billion |
| 4 | Janney Montgomery Scott | $6.1 Billion |
| 5 | Wells Fargo | $5.2 Billion |
The month-over-month change is particularly noteworthy. Raymond James has expanded its already substantial lead, while Rockefeller and Wells Fargo have moved rapidly up the rankings. Morgan Stanley and UBS now lead the industry in reported assets lost through recruiting.
Notable Advisor Moves
Rockefeller Recruits $2.1 Billion Merrill Lynch Team
Rockefeller Capital Management recruited Jones Wealth Partners, a Merrill Lynch team overseeing approximately $2.1 billion in client assets, to establish Rockefeller’s presence in Columbus, Ohio.
The group is led by veteran advisor Sidney Jones and includes multiple advisors and support professionals. The move also expands Rockefeller’s national footprint as it continues attracting large teams from traditional wirehouses.
Why it matters
Rockefeller’s recruiting success demonstrates the competitive position specialized wealth platforms have developed against the largest traditional brokerage firms. Experienced teams can increasingly obtain sophisticated investment capabilities and infrastructure while operating within organizations built more specifically around high- and ultra-high-net-worth wealth management.
Raymond James Recruits $1.1 Billion Baird Team
Raymond James added a Pennsylvania-based Baird team overseeing approximately $1.1 billion in client assets to its employee advisor channel.
The Carlson Group became the second billion-dollar-plus team to join Raymond James’ employee channel within roughly two weeks, following the firm’s recruitment of a $5.4 billion team from Comerica.
Why it matters
Raymond James continues demonstrating that its recruiting strength isn’t limited to one affiliation model. The ability to offer advisors multiple ways to affiliate with the organization remains an important competitive advantage as teams increasingly seek platforms that can accommodate different ownership and operating preferences.
The Recruiting Wire numbers reinforce the point: Raymond James now leads the industry with approximately $18.6 billion in recruited assets and $14.2 billion on a net basis.
Merit Adds $900 Million Commonwealth Team
Merit Financial Advisors added Bridgeway Group, a California practice overseeing approximately $900 million in advisory and brokerage assets that had been affiliated with Commonwealth Financial Network.
The nine-person group became another Commonwealth team to move to Merit following LPL’s acquisition of Commonwealth.
Why it matters
The Commonwealth transition remains one of the most important recruiting stories in wealth management.
Large acquisitions can create opportunities for competitors because advisors often use ownership changes as an opportunity to reassess their platform. Culture, leadership accessibility, technology, operational support, and independence can suddenly become part of a much larger strategic discussion.
AdvisorHub’s current scoreboard shows more than $5.1 billion in reported assets departing Commonwealth through recruiting activity.
Cetera Adds $420 Million Commonwealth Team
Cetera added a North Carolina-based Commonwealth team overseeing approximately $420 million in assets under administration.
The advisors emphasized their desire for a platform capable of providing compliance, technology, and back-office resources while preserving flexibility in how they operate their business.
Why it matters
This is another example of the increasingly important middle ground between complete independence and traditional employment.
Many advisors want institutional-level infrastructure without having to build every operational function themselves—but they also want control over their client experience and business model.
That combination is becoming an increasingly powerful recruiting proposition.
$3.5 Billion Team Leaves Osaic to Launch RIA
August also brought another significant independence story as iTP Partners, overseeing approximately $3.5 billion, left Osaic to launch an RIA using Cetera’s Blueprint platform.
Why it matters
Moves of this size reinforce how far the independent ecosystem has developed.
The decision is no longer simply between working at a large institution and building everything independently. Advisors can increasingly combine ownership with outsourced technology, compliance, custody, investment, and operational infrastructure.
That makes independence viable for progressively larger and more sophisticated practices.
Five Trends We’re Watching
1. Raymond James Remains the Recruiting Leader
Raymond James continues to demonstrate significant recruiting momentum.
The firm’s reported $18.6 billion in recruited assets is more than twice the total of the next-ranked firm. Even after accounting for approximately $4.4 billion of departures, Raymond James remains the clear net recruiting leader at roughly $14.2 billion.
That suggests the firm’s strength isn’t simply the result of a few headline transactions. Raymond James continues attracting advisors across multiple affiliation models.
2. Rockefeller Is Emerging as a Major Recruiting Winner
Rockefeller may be the most significant change in the August scoreboard.
The firm has climbed to approximately $7.9 billion in recruited assets, placing it second overall and second in net recruiting.
The firm’s success demonstrates that sophisticated teams serving high- and ultra-high-net-worth clients increasingly have credible alternatives to the traditional wirehouse environment.
3. Wells Fargo’s Recruiting Momentum Is Becoming Significant
Wells Fargo has also moved decisively into the winner column.
The firm now ranks third in gross recruiting with approximately $7.8 billion and fifth on a net basis with approximately $5.2 billion.
That’s significant for a firm that spent years dealing with advisor attrition. Its range of employee, FiNet, and developing RIA options gives advisors multiple ways to affiliate with the organization.
4. Commonwealth Remains a Recruiting Battleground
The integration of Commonwealth into LPL continues to generate competitive activity.
With approximately $5.2 billion in reported recruiting departures, Commonwealth remains among the five largest sources of departing advisor assets on AdvisorHub’s scoreboard.
This doesn’t necessarily indicate dissatisfaction with LPL. Large ownership changes naturally create decision points for advisors who may have spent many years operating under the same platform and culture.
Competitors clearly recognize the opportunity.
5. Enterprise Value Continues to Influence Advisor Decisions
The biggest recruiting stories increasingly look less like job changes and more like strategic business decisions.
Advisors aren’t simply comparing payouts.
They’re evaluating:
- Ownership
- Succession
- Technology
- Operational scale
- Client experience
- Leadership and culture
- Growth resources
- Long-term enterprise value
That distinction becomes especially important for teams managing hundreds of millions—or billions—of dollars.
BKLM Perspective
The most important development in advisor recruiting isn’t simply that more advisors are moving.
It’s that the number of viable destinations has expanded dramatically.
A successful advisor once evaluating a transition might have compared several large brokerage firms with relatively similar business models. Today, that same advisor may consider a wirehouse, regional firm, independent broker-dealer, supported-independence platform, hybrid RIA, established national RIA, or launching an independent firm.
The August Recruiting Wire numbers reinforce this shift.
Raymond James remains the clear leader, but Rockefeller’s rapid rise and Wells Fargo’s renewed recruiting momentum demonstrate how competitive the market for established advisory teams has become. Meanwhile, billions of dollars continue moving away from Morgan Stanley, UBS, Merrill Lynch, and Commonwealth.
That competition is changing what advisors expect from their platforms.
The August moves involving Rockefeller, Raymond James, Merit, Cetera, and other firms illustrate that sophisticated advisors increasingly expect both infrastructure and flexibility.
For advisory firm owners, this creates an important strategic question:
Does your current platform help you operate a practice—or help you build a valuable business?
Those aren’t necessarily the same thing.
For advisors with five, ten, or fifteen years remaining in their careers, decisions involving ownership, succession, organic growth, technology, scalability, and enterprise value can ultimately have a greater financial impact than relatively small differences in annual payout.
The recruiting headlines tell us where advisors are moving.
The more important story is that advisors increasingly appear to be thinking like business owners when deciding where to go.
Sources
- AdvisorHub Recruiting Wire Scoreboard
- AdvisorHub — Advisor Moves
- Barron’s Advisor — Advisor Recruiting Coverage
- WealthManagement.com — Recruiting and Career Moves
- InvestmentNews — Advisor Moves
- Company announcements and industry reporting
BKLM analysis based on publicly reported advisor movements and industry information available through August 20, 2026.