LPL Financial Lowers ETF Pricing on RIA Platforms

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – May 30, 2019 – LPL Financial LLC, a leading retail investment advisory firm and independent broker-dealer, today announced its next major pricing enhancement, part of its continuing efforts to reduce and simplify pricing for advisors across platforms. Advisors will be able to take advantage of 45 percent lower transaction charges from several leading providers of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The products are offered on LPL’s Strategic Asset Management (SAM) and Strategic Wealth Management (SWM) platforms, rep-managed platforms designed for advisors leveraging the firm’s corporate, hybrid or RIA-only platforms.

ETF transaction charges will drop from $9.00 to $4.95 for State Street, Invesco and WisdomTree, and LPL is pursuing similar partnerships with other sponsors. The new pricing goes into effect during the second half of the year. The reduction will be offered at no cost to advisors or their clients, and will apply to all SAM and SWM transactions of the participating sponsors.

“We are committed to helping our advisors thrive in today’s complex and challenging business environment. We can do that by using our scale to provide competitive, industry-leading programs that give advisors choice and flexibility to address the needs of their clients and their business,” said Rob Pettman, LPL Financial executive vice president, Products and Platforms. “The firm remains committed to leveraging our scale to invest in advisors’ businesses with price reductions and new capabilities. ETFs are another step in the journey to expand our breadth of solutions and help advisors remain competitive in the marketplace.”

LPL has made several enhancements to its RIA platforms over the last year, including introducing a mutual fund no-transaction fee (NTF) network to its SWM platform. PIMCO was added to the network in April, joining another 65 sponsors, including AllianceBernstein, BlackRock, Columbia, Invesco, J.P. Morgan, John Hancock, Legg Mason, MFS, Natixis, Oppenheimer and Putnam. And in January, fees were lowered for advisors with $25 million to $50 million in assets custodied on the SAM platform, reduced and simplified to a flat eight basis point administrative fee.

Related Article: Payouts and Pricing

About LPL Financial

LPL Financial is a leader in the retail financial advice market and the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer*. We serve independent financial advisors and financial institutions, providing them with the technology, research, clearing and compliance services, and practice management programs they need to create and grow thriving practices. LPL enables them to provide objective guidance to millions of American families seeking wealth management, retirement planning, financial planning and asset management solutions.

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC.

*Based on total revenues, Financial Planning magazine June 1996-2018

Important Disclosures

An investment in Exchange Traded Funds (ETF), structured as a mutual fund or unit investment trust, involves the risk of losing money and should be considered as part of an overall program, not a complete investment program. An investment in ETFs involves additional risks such as not diversified, price volatility, competitive industry pressure, international political and economic developments, possible trading halts, and index tracking errors.

Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of a particular investment company carefully before investing. The applicable prospectus and, if available, the summary prospectus contain this and other important information about an investment company. Investors can obtain a prospectus and summary prospectus from their financial representatives. Read carefully before investing.