LPL Financial is the nation's largest Independent Broker Dealer (2024)

FAQs

Is LPL the largest broker-dealer? ›

Known for over 25 years as the nation's leading independent broker-dealer, we've expanded our business model options to serve financial institutions, RIA firms, and advisors looking for varying degrees of operational support.

The firm provided inaccurate information to customers regarding switch transactions, misrepresenting fees due to errors in its databases. LPL Financial failed to identify potentially unsuitable transactions involving Unit Investment Trusts (UITs), causing customers to incur approximately $31,000 in sales charges.

America's Most Responsible Companies, Newsweek, 2021 - 2022

LPL's ranking marked an inaugural appearance on the list, ranking No. 240 among 400.

LPL is a Fortune 500 company, serving more than 21,000 financial professionals with over $1 trillion in brokerage and advisory client assets. Our balance sheet is strong, with over $200 million of excess cash and modest leverage below our conservative management targets.

As of March 2023, LPL Financial was the largest independent broker-dealer by gross revenue, with margins of roughly 8.6 billion U.S. dollars roughly 2.4 billion U.S. dollars more than the second largest independent broker in the United States which was Ameriprise Financial.

The largest brokerage by assets under management, or AUM, is Vanguard, started by famed investor John C. Bogle in 1975. The firm has grown to manage $8.6 trillion in assets, or put another way, more than 80 times the estimated number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy, according to NASA.

FINRA fined LPL Financial $3,000,000 in July 2023, and required the firm to pay restitution in the amount of $100,000 to resolve allegations that LPL Financial failed to establish and maintain a system to supervise wire transfers and the ability to detect possible instances of forgery or falsification of electronic ...

Plaintiff Lamkin Wealth Management, a Louisville firm, said the former advisors, with “coordination, encouragement, direction, and support from” LPL Financial LLC, schemed to steal all clients from Lamkin, also known as LWM, according to a complaint filed in a Jefferson County Circuit Court in late January.

Charles Schwab Corp has a Quality Score of 67, which is Strong. LPL Financial Holdings Inc has a Quality Score of 85, which is Very Strong.

Is my money safe with LPL Financial? ›

LPL is a member of SIPC. For accounts held at LPL, SIPC provides account protection up to a maximum of $500,000 per customer, of which $250,000 may be claims for cash.

LPL Financial LLC is a SEC-registered investment advisor and wealth management firm headquartered in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The firm was founded in 1989 as Linsco/Private Ledger Corp. They are a direct subsidiary of LPL Holdings, Inc., owned by LPL Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPLA).

LPL Financial has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 1,579 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there.

Pair Corralation between Vanguard 500 and LPL Financial

Assuming the 90 days horizon Vanguard 500 Index is expected to under-perform the LPL Financial. But the mutual fund apears to be less risky and, when comparing its historical volatility, Vanguard 500 Index is 2.2 times less risky than LPL Financial.

Edward Jones, Vanguard, UBS, Raymond James and Stifel respectively took the next highest ratings, while Equitable Advisors, TIAA, LPL Financial, Lincoln Financial Group and Prudential Advisors came in at the bottom of the two dozen firms tracked in the client poll.

Coming in at number 466, LPL's record revenue of $5.9 billion for 2020 highlights a nearly 37% increase over the last three years. This honor marks another milestone in LPL's history that's shared with each and every one of the more than 18,000 financial advisors and 4,800 employees who are part of our community.

About LPL Financial

Today, LPL is a leader in the markets we serve⁽⁵⁾, serving more than 22,000 financial advisors, including advisors at approximately 1,100 enterprises and at approximately 570 registered investment advisor ("RIA") firms nationwide.