LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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So that’s one way to think about how we add capability to make it more appealing to drive utilization. And I think we believe that upside can be significant, certainly continuing to invest in the pricing helps also drive the appeal and demand for it. And think about, as you think about last year and rightfully so, still good demand but the trend was down. Historically speaking, centrally managed usually reacts more or is more impacted, if you will, by a challenging macro environment. The more volatility, the more sort of a downward trend in equity markets, and in fact, we had the combination of tough fixed income markets last year, and that’s where we’ll many times see an adviser sort of more want to put their hands on the wheel and drive that.

So you’re seeing some of that sort of volatility in the marketplace, the macro marketplace noise occurring in that trend. I think structurally speaking, we continue to invest in the appeal of it. And the more appealing we make it, the more it should drive up utilization on a relevant basis. I hope that helps.

Kyle Voigt: Good. Thank you. And then for a follow-up, maybe just a modeling question here for Matt. The DCA yield came in a bit above our expectation. I know that’s formulaic really. But just wondering maybe you could provide an update on the number of accounts that flow into that program currently and how or if that number has grown recently?

Matthew Audette: Yes. I mean I don’t have an update on the number of accounts. I would emphasize, though, I think the point you’re making, it is a fee per account. So the — so we quote it in basis points, but it’s a little hard for it to be predictive, just given balances to move up and down. So it’s the account, I would emphasize they haven’t changed materially. But when you get a pop perhaps like you’ve seen in this quarter, that may not be something that you would expect to see going forward just because it’s not really rate driven, it’s fee per account driven.

Kyle Voigt: Yes, thank you.

Operator: And our next question comes from the line of Jeff Schmitt from William Blair. Your question, please.

Jeff Schmitt : Thank you. On recruited assets, I’m just curious how the recruiting environment for advisers looks right now. I know you mentioned it is pretty strong for you. But are you seeing any competitors get more aggressive on pricing just with organic growth down for the industry, maybe they’re trying to look for growth?

Dan Arnold : Yes. So look, I think the recruiting environment, I think it’s well documented over the last three years, the churn in the industry has slowed, right, from 2022 to — sorry, 2020 to 2022, primarily driven on the backs of the pandemic and then the macro volatility last year, which are pretty extreme impacts. And so certainly, with less sort of swings in the batter’s box, I think you have competitors that will tend to respond to that in different ways and some have gotten more aggressive on the transition of systems. That’s what we’re talking about, about being more aggressive. And then certainly, when you add to that the rising interest rates that can be more robustly monetized, and thus so in underwriting around deals, you’ll see transition systems get more aggressive in those types of environments.

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