Improving Recruitment & Retention
You can’t swing a stick without hitting an article that talks about recruiting and retention for almost any position. There is so much information and advice out there, we thought a recent post from BISA / Cerulli would be a good opportunity to offer a fresher perspective.
If you haven’t seen the BISA – Cerulli white paper, it’s worth the time to look over. As usual, Cerulli does a wonderful job of collecting and presenting its material. Below are a few highlights and takeaways from our perspective…
- “Wealth and investment programs at banks and credit unions are at a critical juncture…” WE COULD NOT AGREE MORE! WE DON’T AGREE WITH EVERYTHING JOHN OLERIO WROTE IN HIS FORWARD, BUT THIS CHANNEL BEING AT A CRITICAL JUNCTURE IS VERY ACCURATE.
- Advisor Headcount. Cerulli’s stats are no doubt correct based on the parameters they look at. However, our data (which removes advisor headcount of the super-regionals on up and focuses solely on community banks and credit unions) show that headcount has increased by just over 2% since 2018 making our channel one of the fastest growing. For many reasons, we don’t believe this will slow down and could increase over the next 5 years.
- Advisor Recruitment, Development, and Retention. We wish Cerulli spent a little more time talking about the benefits of Licensed Banker Programs. Having an LBE program is no longer just a luxury for certain-size wealth programs, banks, and credit unions. If you have a wealth program today and you do not have an LBE program and are not currently developing one, you will be at a competitive disadvantage in a few short years. LBE’s are a must-have for banks and credit unions!
- Dissatisfaction with Technology. What’s not mentioned here is that most advisors across all platforms show similar dissatisfaction with technology. It’s an easy target. That said, there have been huge strides with most of the top third-party BD’s in the tech space. But the tech drop once you leave the top-tier firms is an enormous one. The second-tier firms need to step up in the development of their tech suite or they will continue losing market share.
- Reasons for Switching Firms. This data comes from advisors in all employee channels and is irrelevant to the community bank / credit union channel. Data specific to banks and credit unions were from only 14 programs. LACK OF SUPPORT FROM BANK / CU LEADERSHIP AND BOARD IS THE NUMBER ONE REASON ADVISORS LEAVE COMMUNITY BANK AND CREDIT UNION WEALTH PROGRAMS.
- Succession planning and second story offerings. These two critical pieces are well represented in this white paper. We agree that both are critically important to the long-term success of a financial institution’s wealth platform. It’s true that too many banks and credit unions are behind relating to these issues. However, it should be noted that succession planning and second-story offerings are two of the three fastest-growing initiatives inside community banks and credit unions (LBE programs being the third). Something we are proud to say Compass Consulting has played a small role in!
About Compass
Compass is dedicated to serving community banks and credit unions, specific to supporting their efforts in offering comprehensive private wealth, securities, insurance, and other wealth management and advisory services. Central to our mission is bridging the gap between the major wall street firms and the banks and credit unions that serve the public at the community level. To learn more about Compass’s services, visit our website www.compassconsulting.com or call 760-477-1299.