U.S. brokerage firm Edward Jones plans to increase its financial adviser ranks in Connecticut by 11 percent this year, and potentially double its presence in the state over the next five to 10 years.
The move is part of the St. Louis-based firm’s goal to expand its reach across the United States and Canada.
Price Woodward, a principal in charge of financial adviser development at the firm, said Edward Jones has 77 advisers and 68 branches in Connecticut, and will add at least 10 advisers in 2010.
He said the firm should easily double its presence in the state over the next five to 10 years, and end up with as many as 150 advisers in Greater Hartford alone.
Edward Jones has offices in Windsor, Bloomfield, Rocky Hill, Simsbury, Farmington, and Canton.
“We don’t think we’ve scratched the surface yet in Connecticut,” Woodward said.
Overall, Edward Jones intends to add 1,068 advisers across the U.S. and 95 new brokers in Canada in 2010. The company ended last year with 11,927 U.S. brokers.
Woodward said 85 percent of the people they hire are new to the industry, mainly individuals seeking a career change. The remaining 15 percent come from rival firms.
Nearly half of new hires are referred to the company through existing advisers. Each new employee must go through a formal training period, and after six months, if they are a proper fit with the firm, they are given their own office branch, which is staffed with an assistant.
Woodward said advisers can choose where they set up shop, and the firm encourages advisers to open a branch in the same community they live in.
“It’s more convenient for the client, and also means there is no commute for the financial adviser,” Woodward said. “They get to control their own destiny.”
Edward Jones caters to individual investors and small business owners, including doctors, lawyers and certified public accountants.
The firm has grown slowly in Connecticut through most of its existence, but expanded its presence here during the past decade. The company had 40 offices in early 2000, but has grown to a 68 branch network.
Woodward said when markets are doing well more people are looking self select into the industry.
The company manages just over $500 billion in client assets.
In terms of being able to find talent in Greater Hartford, industry experts don’t think it will be a problem for Edward Jones, or any other firm looking to expand.
Robert A. Laraia, a partner at NorthStar Wealth Partners in West Hartford, said the economic turmoil over the past year and half has wreaked havoc on the financial adviser industry, especially on large wire houses, which were forced to cut ranks.
He said the consolidation and layoffs within the industry have left a lot of talented individuals looking for work.
“I think for any firm that wants to increase their size there is a lot of human capital on the street right now to do it,” Laraia said.
SBA Enhancements Extended
President Barack Obama has signed legislation extending through April the U.S. Small Business Administration’s ability to provide enhancements in its two largest loan programs.
The enhancements, first made available under the stimulus bill, include a higher guarantee on some SBA-backed loans and fee relief.
The SBA estimates the $40 million extension will support about $1.4 billion in small business lending.
“Thousands of small businesses across the country have taken advantage of these loan enhancements to get the capital they need during these tough economic times,” said SBA administrator Karen Mills. “The increased guarantee and reduced fees on SBA loans helped put more than $23 billion into the hands of small business owners and brought more than 1,100 lenders back to SBA loan programs.”
Mills said as a result of the program, the average weekly loan approvals by SBA have climbed by 86 percent compared to the weekly average before passage of the stimulus bill.
Among other things, the enhancements allow the SBA to suspend the fees it traditionally charges borrowers for its loan guarantees and raises that guarantee from 75 percent to 90 percent for some loans, meaning lenders don’t have to shoulder as much risk.
Those guarantees have helped boost lending in Connecticut.
Through the first five months of fiscal year 2010, which began in October, Connecticut’s banks have made 313 SBA loans totaling $74 million.
That’s a 76 percent increase from the same time period last year, when SBA lenders made 195 loans for $42 million.
Greg Bordonaro is a Hartford Business Journal staff writer.
