This week, Arkansas Business presents three industry lists with the common theme of wealth management: trust departments, money managers and broker-dealers.
The Stephens name tops the broker-dealers list and, with a big increase in assets under management by Stephens Investment Management Group, now holds the top two spots on the money managers list.
(Buy the Lists: Download the lists of Trust Departments, Money Managers and Broker Dealers.)
The broker-dealers are ranked by the number of registered representatives in Arkansas, and the money managers — officially registered investment advisers — are ranked by assets under management as reported on their latest ADV forms filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Only RIAs based in Arkansas are included in the research.
Among trust departments, shuffling in the banking industry has resulted in some changes on the list. With the exception of Community First Trust Co. of Hot Springs, all of the trust departments are affiliated with banks chartered in Arkansas, and they are ranked based on total managed, non-managed and custody assets as of Dec. 31, 2013.
Arvest Trust Co. of Lowell solidified its position at the top of the trust departments list, where it first landed a year ago. Its assets under management grew by 19 percent between 2012 and 2013, ending just below $3 billion.
Simmons First Trust Co. of Pine Bluff, the leader usurped by Arvest last year, acquired Metropolitan National Bank last November, and the combination bumped Simmons’ trust assets up by only a bit over 3 percent. But Simmons’ acquisition in August of the fourth-largest trust department in the state, that of Delta Trust & Bank, could give Arvest a run for the money at the end of 2014.
Most of the trust departments did enjoy asset growth in 2013. Even the one that appears to show a 45 percent decline, independent Community First Trust, actually had an increase of almost 10 percent. That’s because Community First managed Centennial Bank’s trust assets until February 2014, but those assets as of Dec. 31 have been listed separately at No. 9 and No. 10 on this year’s list.
A reverse scenario bumped Relyance Bank of Pine Bluff up from No. 11 last year to No. 8 on this year’s list, thanks to the merger of corporate sister Hot Springs Bank & Trust just before the end of 2013.
Money Managers
Stephens Inc. reported assets under management of $5.55 billion on its most recent ADV form, which was filed with the SEC last month. Stephens Inc. so dominates the list of money managers that just its year-over-year growth in assets under management — more than $340 million — is more than the total managed by all but six other registered investment advisers.
And then there was growth of some $1.4 billion at Stephens Investment Management Group LLC, the mutual fund division of Stephens Capital Management, that pushed it over the $3 billion when its ADV was filed back in March.
That allowed SIMG to leapfrog over Foundation Resource Management Inc. of Little Rock. (Foundation Resource Management co-owner Mark Millsap is the subject of this week’s Executive Q&A feature.)
Most of the money managers saw assets increase, but there was a notable exception:
St. Bernard Financial Services of Russellville. St. Bernard’s assets under management dropped from $112.4 million as of February 2013 to $68.5 million as of August 2014. St. Bernard employed Steele Stephens, the bond broker whose pie-box payments resulted in former State Treasurer Martha Shoffner’s conviction on corruption charges in March.
Broker-Dealers
The list of broker-dealers remained stable, with the top five unchanged in ranking. Raymond James moved up one spot to No. 6, knocking down Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.
St. Bernard suffered on the broker-dealers list as well. It has 27 registered agents this year, down from 41 a year ago.
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