Raymond James Now Has Over 8,000 Advisors And 50 Investment Bankers

By Amit Chowdhry ● Oct 29, 2019
  • Raymond James Financial CEO Paul Reilly recently announced that the company’s advisor headcount has surpassed 8,000. And now the company also has over 50 investment bankers.

In a recent earnings call, Raymond James Financial CEO Paul Reilly recently unveiled that its advisor headcount has topped 8,000 — which sets a record for the company. Plus the company also now has more than 50 investment bankers across 7 cities nationally. Raymond James Financial has total client assets of about $825 billion.

“I can’t remember seeing so many $5 million to $10 million (advisors) in the pipeline,” said Reilly on an earnings call via Financial-Planning.com.

Raymond James recorded 8,011 advisors for the period ending September 30, which is up a net 198 during the same period a year ago. Earlier this year, Raymond James also announced it was setting up major recruiting loans as it hunts for strong talent.

And Raymond James also issued forming hiring offers totaling about $214 million as of June 30. This is up from $132 million compared to the same period a year ago.

Some of Raymond James’ recent hires include a former team at UBS that managed about $1 billion in assets. The four-person team joined Raymond James at its offices in Bethesda, Maryland. This team operated as SPG Fiduciary Partners, which included Arun Sardana; Paul Grambsch; Reilly Loflin, CFA; and Adam Proger, CFA, CIMA.

Recently Raymond James also expanded its Financial Services Investment Banking practice with the addition of several senior bankers focused on the depository sector. At the Boston office, Raymond James hired Robert Hutchinson as managing director, Andrew Stager as director, Calvin Chau as vice president, and N. Frank Elder as an analyst.

This team has more than 40 years of combined financial services industry experience led by Hutchinson’s more than 20 years of experience advising depositories on mergers and acquisitions, equity offerings, trust preferred offerings, and mutual to stock conversions.

“Over the past 20 years, Bob has advised on over 55 announced M&A transactions and 85 capital offerings, totaling $25 billion in deal value,” explained Jim Bunn, president of Raymond James Global Equities and Investment Banking. “His rich experience will continue to add to our reputation as a leading global investment bank in the financial services space.”

Hutchinson is joining Raymond James from Piper Jaffray where he worked as a managing director and head of financial services investment banking. And prior to Piper Jaffray, Hutchinson was a managing director with Sterne Agee.

“We’re focused on hiring bankers with considerable sector knowledge, a reputation for providing clients with exceptional strategic advice, and a proven track record in serving the financial services sector,” commented John Roddy, managing director and head of the Financial Services Investment Banking practice at Raymond James. “Given Bob’s prior leadership experience and the collective expertise of Andrew, Calvin, and Frank, these professionals will be an invaluable resource as we continue to grow our preeminent financial services practice.”

Earlier this year, Raymond James also acquired a boutique investment bank called Silver Lane, which was founded by Elizabeth Nesvold. Founded in 2007, Silver Lane specializes in mergers and acquisitions and it worked with clients like HighTower Advisors, Emigrant Bank, and Tiedeman Advisors. Roddy is based out of the New York office where Silver Lane now resides.