Up-front cash is no longer king when it comes to advisors moving firms. Instead, advisors are singing the praises of a seamless transition rather than a lucrative one. More often than not, that means the new firm is providing some solid administrative support.

The boutique firms in Investment Executive’s 2008 Brokerage Report Card, Richardson Partners Financial Ltd., GMP Private Client LP (both of Toronto) and Winnipeg-based Wellington West Capital Inc. ranked one, two and three, respectively, for the quality of the transition support they provide their incoming advisors. And these results have more to do with the administrative support — as opposed to the financial incentives — the firm provides.

“If they do get paid a lot, no one knows about it,” says a Richardson Partners advisor in Quebec. “But the tendency is not to pay a lot.”

“The firm really helped us deal with the roadblocks we faced from the firm we left,” says a Wellington West advisor in Ontario. “Looking back, it is the best decision we made.”

In this year’ Brokerage Report Card, IE asked advisors to rate a broader spectrum of the support — financial and administrative — they received when they moved to a new firm.

Typically, the new firm to which an experienced advisor moves his or her business will provide some sort of income bridging, financing and equity. A full financial package, along with strong administrative help, is — according to Tim Price, president and CEO of Montreal-based MacDougall MacDougall & MacTier Inc. — “the usual.”

However, it’s the administrative support that was front and centre in advisors’ responses this year. For instance, an advisor with BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. in Quebec was very impressed that the bank-owned dealer brought in temps over a weekend in order to get through the paperwork his move had caused.

Adds an advisor with TD Waterhouse Private Investment Advice in Alberta; “The firm sent in an army, for crying out loud.”

Likewise, an advisor in Ontario with Montreal-based National Bank Financial Ltd. and an advisor in British Columbia with Toronto-based Blackmont Capital Inc. both described the cohort of administrative support that descended upon them as “the SWAT team.”

But, as you would expect, attitudes toward transition support vary. Some advisors had less satisfying experiences — even at the highest-scoring firms.

“It would be great if there was some sort of program — like a manual or a guide,” says an advisor with Mississauga, Ont.-based Edwards Jones, “for moving your book.”

An advisor with Richardson Partners in B.C., whose firm led the pack with a performance rating of 9.9, felt his transition to the firm was a “disaster.”

An advisor with RBC Dominion Securities Inc. (8.0 rating) in Western Canada complains that “some promises were not delivered.”

It’s worth noting, however, that Vancouver-based Odlum Brown Ltd. , which had the second-lowest score on the survey (6.9), does not pay signing bonuses. “They are not in anyone’s best interest,” says Odlum Brown president and CEO Debra Hewson, “except maybe the advisor’s.”

Yet Odlum Brown advisors describe the firm’s transition support as “seamless,” of “high quality” and “very well done.”

The firm’s low score would seem to indicate that, perhaps, money still plays a part in the equation.

At the end of the day, investing in the resources that make a transition run smoothly provides a distinct advantage. “It attracts large producers from other firms,” says an advisor with Vancouver-based Leede Financial Markets Inc.

And when these large producers move, “they usually take 80% of their book,” says Bob Larose, outgoing executive vice president of private client services at Vancouver-based Canaccord Capital Inc.

That makes them worth going the extra mile for. IE