LPL Financial

Last updated
LPL Financial Holdings Inc.
Company type Public
Nasdaq:  LPLA
Russell 1000 Component
Industry Financial services
Founded1989;35 years ago (1989)
Headquarters San Diego, California, United States
Key people
  • Matt Audette (managing director, Head of Business Operations, & CFO)
  • Matthew Enyedi (managing director, Client Success)
  • Greg Gates (managing director & Chief Technology & Information Officer)
  • Aneri Jambusaria (Managing Director, LPL Services Group)
  • Sallie Larsen (Managing Director & Chief Human Capital Officer)
  • Michelle Oroschakoff (managing director & Chief Legal and Risk Officer)
  • Kabir Sethi (managing director & Chief Product Officer)
  • Rich Steinmeier (Managing Director & Divisional President, Business Development)
RevenueIncrease2.svg US$5.9 billion (2020)
AUM $1 Trillion
Number of employees
4,658 [1]  (2020)
Subsidiaries LPL Financial LLC
LPL Insurance Associates, Inc.
Fortigent LLC
The Private Trust Company
Website www.lpl.com

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (commonly referred to as LPL Financial) was founded in 1989 [2] and is considered the largest independent broker-dealer in the United States. As of 2021 the company had more than 17,500 financial advisors, [3] over US$1 trillion in advisory and brokerage assets, [4] and generated approximately $10.3 billion in annual revenue for the 2023 fiscal year. [5]

Contents

LPL Financial was formed in 1989 through the merger of two brokerage firms—Linsco (established in 1968 as Life Insurance Securities Corp) and Private Ledger (established in 1973)—and has since expanded its number of independent financial advisors both organically and through acquisitions. LPL Financial has main offices in Boston, Fort Mill, Austin, and San Diego. [6] The company is a member of FINRA and the SIPC. [7]

LPL Financial joined the Fortune 500 list at number 466 in 2021 [3] and rose to 392 in 2024. [8]

LPL's subsidiaries are LPL Financial LLC, LPL Insurance Associates, Inc., Fortigent, LLC, and The Private Trust Company, N.A. [9]

Acquisitions

On August 15, 2017, LPL Financial Holdings Inc. signed and closed a transaction to purchase the independent broker-dealer network of National Planning Holdings, Inc. (NPH). NPH was the holding company for four independent broker-dealer firms: INVEST Financial Corporation, National Planning Corporation, Investment Centers of America, and SII Investments.

On December 3, 2018, LPL Financial Holdings Inc. reported its acquisition of AdvisoryWorld, a technology company serving the wealth management industry. Founded in 1987, the company's products include proposal generation, portfolio and investment analytics and portfolio modeling capabilities. [10]

On August 18, 2020, LPL Financial Holdings Inc. reported its purchase of E.K. Riley Investments, LLC, a broker-dealer and registered investment advisor (RIA) based in Seattle. E.K. Riley served more than $2 billion of client assets and expected approximately 90% of its advisors to join LPL. [11] [12]

On August 20, 2020, LPL Financial Holdings Inc. reported it had completed its purchase of the of San Diego–based firm Lucia Securities, a broker-dealer and Lucia Wealth Services, a registered investment advisor (RIA). [13] [14]

On October 27, 2020, LPL Financial Holdings Inc. announced its acquisition of Blaze Portfolio, a Chicago-based fintech firm founded in 2010. LPL will continue to offer Blaze Portfolio's services as a stand-alone product, as well as bring trading capabilities to all LPL Financial advisors. The transaction was signed and closed on Oct. 26, 2020. LPL Financial paid approximately $12 million and agreed to a potential contingent payment of up to $5 million, subject to milestones and customary purchase price adjustments. [15] [16]

In April 2021, LPL acquired Waddell & Reed's wealth management fund. [17]

Statistics

Key facts regarding LPL Financial include the following:

On May 2, 2018, LPL Financial agreed to a $26 million settlement arising from unregistered securities. [21] [22] [23] [24]

On October 30, 2018, LPL Financial agreed to pay a $2.75 million fine and perform a look-back review of certain complaints primarily related to anti-money laundering (AML) reporting and customer complaint reporting. [25]

On June 26, 2019, LPL Financial settled with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at a cost of $1.1. million and underwent a review of certain internal controls. The Massachusetts Securities Division (MSD) had investigated and charged LPL over compliance matters related to licensing of advisors/supervisors and late reportings. [26]

On December 26, 2019, LPL Financial paid a fine of $300,000 as part of a settlement with FINRA primarily related to its systems and procedures related to Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA) and Uniform Transfer to Minors Act (UTMA) accounts. The settlement was based on internal controls and was not related to any investor harm. [27]

On December 30, 2020, LPL Financial paid a fine of $6.5 million as part of a settlement with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). As part of the settlement, LPL Financial consented to the findings that they had failed to supervise and failed to maintain adequate records. FINRA alleged that inadequate record keeping had exposed customers to losses through a Ponzi scheme created by one of its representatives. [28]

In August 2024, LPL Financial settled with the SEC for a $50 million fine for failure in electronic record keeping. [29]

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References

  1. ↑ "Corporate Snapshot". LPL Financial. September 30, 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Our History". www.lpl.com. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
  3. 1 2 "LPL Financial Holdings | 2021 Fortune 500". Fortune. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
  4. 1 2 3 "Corporate Snapshot". www.lpl.com. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  5. ↑ "LPL Financial Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results". LPL Financial. February 1, 2024. Retrieved October 15, 2024.
  6. ↑ "LPL Financial Work Locations". www.lpl.com. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
  7. ↑ "LPL Financial". www.lpl.com. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  8. ↑ Murphy, Kate (June 4, 2024). "These San Diego companies made the 2024 Fortune 500 list". Axios. Retrieved October 15, 2024.
  9. ↑ "Exhibit". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  10. ↑ "LPL Financial Acquires Fintech Firm AdvisoryWorld". www.lpl.com. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
  11. ↑ "LPL Financial Closes E.K. Riley Asset Acquisition". www.lpl.com. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
  12. ↑ Research, Zacks Investment. "LPL Financial (LPLA) Closes Deal to Buy Assets of E.K. Riley". Zacks Investment Research. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  13. ↑ "LPL Financial Closes Lucia Securities Asset Acquisition". GlobeNewswire. 20 August 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  14. ↑ "LPL Financial Closes Lucia Securities Asset Acquisition". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  15. ↑ "LPL Acquires Fintech Firm Blaze Portfolio". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  16. ↑ "LPL Financial snaps up trading platform Blaze Portfolio". InvestmentNews. 2020-10-27. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  17. ↑ "Waddell & Reed - Access Your Account". LPL Financial. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  18. ↑ "LPL Financial LLC Past Performances and Asset Under Management". www.gurufocus.com.
  19. ↑ Publishing, Value Line. "Value Line – The Most Trusted Name in Investment Research". www.valueline.com.
  20. ↑ "The Financial Advisor's Journey | From the Founding of LPL". www.lpl.com. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  21. ↑ Kelly, Bruce (May 2, 2018). "LPL agrees to $26 million settlement with states over unregistered securities". Investment News. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  22. ↑ "Order No. IC19-CAF-01" (PDF). Texas State Securities Board . Mar 28, 2019. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  23. ↑ "2019 Division of Securities Enforcement Actions". Washington State Department of Financial Institutions . Mar 28, 2019. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
  24. ↑ "LPL Financial Reaches $26 Mln Settlement over Brokers' Sale of Unregistered Securities". AdvisorHub. 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
  25. ↑ "LPL agrees to settlement with FINRA over historical compliance matters". www.lpl.com. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
  26. ↑ "LPL Announces Settlement with Massachusetts". www.lpl.com. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
  27. ↑ "LPL Agrees to FINRA Settlement Over UGMA/UTMA Practices". www.lpl.com. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
  28. ↑ "Letter of Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent Re: LPL Financial" (PDF). finra.org. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  29. ↑ "SEC.gov | Twenty-Six Firms to Pay More Than $390 Million Combined to Settle SEC's Charges for Widespread Recordkeeping Failures". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
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