In a move that may not surprise anyone (given the continuing consolidation of advisors inside the JP Morgan ecosystem), we are hearing that JP Morgan Securities is about to bow out of the broker protocol.
The move would serve to make it more difficult, and incrementally litigious, for advisors at the firm to move to a competitor. Should these rumors be ultimately true every advisor of note at JPMS should be scurrying to gather their due diligence on potential greener pastures – a protocol exit is an easy sell when convincing clients why you chose to leave the bank.
JP Morgan has made a concerted effort to consolidate Chase, JPMS, and the Private Bank in hopes to make sure the client experience is the same across all platforms (i.e. lending, asset management, reporting, trust, and estates). The idea being: if there is one client- there is one advisor.
That advisor representing the entire firm, though, should endure the same restrictions (non-solicit, non-compete, and non-protocol) as their brethren at Chase and the firms Private Bank.
Make no mistake, a protocol exit for JPMS advisors will have a direct effect on their practice valuations. In the same way that UBS and Morgan Stanley teams were adversely affected in the months following each firm’s protocol exits; the same dynamic will be in play for JPMS advisors. The smart move is to act with purpose and urgency.
