The independent broker-dealer firm brings another group into its embrace.

Investment advisor and broker/dealer LPL Financial has brought Pennsylvania-based CFG to its platform, and CFG has also aligned with Independent Advisor Alliance, a firm using LPL’s hybrid registered investment platform.

The arrival of CFG brings in a firm whose advisors served about $120 million of brokerage and advisory assets as at March 29, according to a statement from LPL yesterday. (LPL Financial is a wholly-owned subsidiary of LPL Financial Holdings.)

Based in Reading, Pa, with an office in Columbia, South Carolina, CFG was founded in 1986 and serves clients in 11 states.

Michael Krumholz, president and registered principal of CFG, is accompanied by another advisor, Sheila Little, and three professional staff members.  

“As the industry began to shift due to increasing regulatory pressures, we realized it was important to partner with a firm that could support our independent business model and value proposition, which is based on client education and engaging them in the decision-making process,” Krumholz said.

“IAA and LPL combined provide the infrastructure and resources to best support our business…..LPL also has the size and scale to continue to invest in the resources that will support our growth for the long term,” he added.

Under its hybrid RIA model, IAA provides affiliated advisors with customized support services and the firm was founded in 2007, now serving more than 75 independent LPL advisors, with a total of over $2 billion of client assets. LPL serves about $535 billion in brokerage and advisory assets (as at April. 30).

Earlier in May, Choice Group Wealth Management partnered with LPL Financial Holdings subsidiary LPL Financial. The deal sees CGWM use LPL Financial’s broker, dealer, hybrid registered (RIA) platforms.

It has not been all plain sailing for LPL Financial. In the first three months of the year, total headcount fell by 23 persons to 14,354, although rose by 261 on a year earlier. There was a net outflow of $3.4 billion of brokerage assets, translating into a minus 5 per cent annualized rate; there was a net inflow, however, of $6 billion in advisory assets, equating to a 11 per cent annualized rate. CGWM, based in Melville, New York, which serves around $420 million in client assets, is made up of four advisors; Ira Katz, Daniel McNicholas, John Scala and Bryce Wilinski, LPL Financial said in a statement yesterday.