Raymond James to Reorganize Employee Advisor Channel

Raymond James on Thursday announced a regional reorganization of its Raymond James & Associates employee advisor channel. Effective Oct. 1, the shifts will establish “further leadership alignment across” RJA and the firm’s Alex. Brown division, it said.

The firm explained that it is targeting a more unified approach to supporting current and future advisors, according to Tash Elwyn, RJA CEO and president.

“Providing advisors and their clients with a strong leadership team focused on furthering the combined efforts of Raymond James & Associates and Alex. Brown is a key component of our growth strategy,” Elwyn said in a statement.

“Doing so will help identify efficiencies, bolster continued growth, optimize advisor support and add support for expanding strategic markets,” he added.

Playing down the significance of the latest Raymond James’ development, Timothy Welsh, head of the consulting firm Nexus Strategy, told ThinkAdvisor by email Friday: “With brokerage firms the size of RJ, they go through these re-orgs all the time, as various business units grow, shrink or are offloaded — so nothing unusual [is] going on here. Often, they get triggered by the retirement or exit of a senior executive, which looks to be what is happening here.”

In 2020, some two weeks after announcing layoffs of about 4% of its staff, or roughly 500 workers, as part of its need to cut costs in the face of declining earnings, Raymond James said it was merging its investment advisor and custody and clearing businesses into the newly created RIA & Custody Services Division.

Western Division Director Retiring

Raymond James also announced Thursday that Pat Allison, Western division director and senior vice president, will be retiring at the end of the current calendar year.

Allison has been a “valued member of our RJA leadership team” and has had a “remarkable impact … over the past 30 years,” according to Elwyn.