Raymond James Reports Strongest Advisor Recruiting Pipeline in Decades as Ameriprise Sweetens Offers

Raymond James says it is seeing the most robust incoming advisor pipeline in company history, while Ameriprise Financial has quietly raised its upfront recruiting packages — signs that regional broker-dealers are emerging as the big winners in the current wave of wirehouse advisor movement.

Two of the largest regional broker-dealers in the country are signaling that 2026 is shaping up as one of the best recruiting environments they have ever seen — and they are not waiting for wirehouse advisors to come to them.

Raymond James Financial reported last week that its advisor recruiting pipeline is the strongest it has been in the company's history, according to CEO Paul Reilly and recruiting executives who spoke at an industry conference. The firm brought in more than 90 new advisor teams in the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, with an average team size above $500 million in client assets — a profile that would have been unusual for a regional firm even five years ago.

"The quality of the advisors coming in has never been higher," said Scott Curtis, president of Raymond James Financial Services, the firm's independent channel. "We're seeing teams that would never have considered leaving a wirehouse a few years ago now actively exploring alternatives. The calculus has changed."

Ameriprise Financial, meanwhile, has quietly restructured its recruiting packages for experienced wirehouse advisors, raising upfront offers for teams managing $500 million or more. Sources familiar with the program say Ameriprise is now offering transition packages competitive with Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo on a dollar-for-dollar basis for the right profile — a significant shift for a firm that has historically relied on its training pipeline and retail brand over recruiter-driven acquisition.

The moves by both firms reflect a broader competitive dynamic that has been building for several years but accelerated sharply following UBS's 2025 compensation plan changes. With hundreds of advisor teams across the wirehouses evaluating their options, Raymond James and Ameriprise are positioning themselves as a middle path — offering the resources and brand recognition of a large institution without what advisors describe as the bureaucratic friction and margin pressure of a New York money-center bank.

Raymond James has been particularly effective at converting Merrill Lynch advisors in recent months. The firm landed a $1.1 billion team from Merrill in Fort Worth, a $770 million duo from Morgan Stanley in West Virginia, and multiple teams from Commonwealth Financial Network following that firm's acquisition by LPL.

For Ameriprise, the push into higher-end recruiting represents a strategic bet that the firm's wealth management infrastructure — including its proprietary planning tools and advisor workstation — can compete with the wirehouses for advisors who manage $500 million or more. The firm's independent channel, which operates under the Ameriprise Financial Institutions Group and the employee-model franchise, gives it flexibility to structure deals that fit different advisor practice types.

What it means: If you're a $400M–$1B producer at a wirehouse and you haven't had a serious conversation with Raymond James or Ameriprise in the last 12 months, you're probably not getting the full picture of what's available. Both firms are writing competitive deals, and the recruiting environment right now strongly favors the advisor. The window to maximize transition economics — upfront bonuses, deferred comp buyouts, grid guarantees — tends to narrow when the cycle shifts.