LPL recruits $2B Fifth Third team to its Linsco channel

LPL Financial is building out its business division for direct-employee advisors in Ohio with a wealth management team pulled from Fifth Third Private Bank.

Processing Content

The advisor duo of Breanne Bovara and Derrick Petry recently left Fifth Third to form Moto Wealth Partners at Linsco by LPL, the firm’s channel for employee advisors. Bovara and Petry had managed roughly $2 billion at Fifth Third Private Bank. They said in a statement that the name “Moto” denotes the idea that “momentum matters.” 

At LPL, they’ll be at a firm where the vast majority of more than 32,000 advisors work not as direct employees but rather as independent contractors. LPL, which has more than $2.3 trillion in assets under management, started its Linsco channel in 2019 to appeal to advisors who want to leave wirehouse settings in search of greater independence but don’t necessarily want to take on all the burdens of running their own businesses.

Bovara said in a statement that she and Petry chose LPL because of its “cutting-edge technology, integrated planning resources and a robust client engagement ecosystem.”

“This partnership means we can focus on what matters most: delivering highly personalized, planning first strategies for our clients,” she added.

Before starting Moto Wealth Partners, Bovara and Petry had been at Fifth Third for most of their careers. Bovara, who works out of Cincinnati, had been there since 2014, and Petry, out of Dayton, Ohio, since 1999.

A spokesperson for Fifth Third Bank declined to comment.

The recruitment of a team with $2 billion in client assets marks a big win for LPL’s Linsco channel. But since the assets the Moto Wealth team had managed are held in a private bank, they are likely to prove more difficult than regular advisory accounts to move over. Banking assets tend to be “stickier,” meaning harder to disentangle from the firm where they are currently held.