{"id":958041,"date":"2026-05-13T23:19:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T23:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/958041\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T23:19:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T23:19:16","slug":"lido-advisors-leaves-broker-protocol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/958041\/","title":{"rendered":"Lido Advisors Leaves Broker-Protocol"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lido Advisors,\u00a0a Los Angeles-based advisory firm with more than $42 billion in assets under management<\/a>,\u00a0has left the Protocol for Broker Recruiting, which allows advisors some leeway in taking client data with them when\u00a0they change\u00a0firms.<\/p>\n

Lido withdrew from the pact on May 12, according to JS Held, a global consultancy that administers the protocol.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWithdrawing from the Protocol reflects where we are as a firm today,\u201d Lido wrote in an emailed statement. \u201cAs we focus on growth-minded teams and deepen our commitment to client experience, our membership became less essential. We respect the important role the Protocol serves for our colleagues and competitors, and should that change, we can always reconsider.\u201d<\/p>\n

The intra-industry agreement was established in 2004 by UBS, Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney and has since evolved to include over 2,000 wealth managers. In recent years, as advisor movement increased across firms, and particularly to RIAs, firms such as Morgan Stanley and UBS opted out of the protocol<\/a>. More recently, some RIAs have also left<\/a>, the latest being Louisville, Ky.-based RIA Centerline Wealth Advisors, according to a Wednesday notice from JS Held.<\/a><\/p>\n

Related:Mubadala-Owned Corient Acquires $7.8B Multi-State RIA<\/a><\/p>\n

Ken Stern, the recently promoted co-CEO of Lido Advisors<\/a>, said Lido would defend its right to retain clients it has built relationships with over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put a lot of time and energy into the relationships that we have, and the relationships are really good because of all of these things that we provide,\u201d Stern said of Lido\u2019s platform and services. \u201cWe will defend vehemently the relationship that we created and the legal construct of which that was created under … and if we\u2019re challenged, we will defend that to the nth degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stern acknowledged that sometimes a client-advisor relationship \u201cdoesn\u2019t work out,\u201d which the firm respects, but that it believes the nature of departures can be challenged if they go against contractual terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf an advisor chooses to leave, of course, you know, fly and be free, as they say. But don\u2019t use our systems,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t use our process, and clearly don\u2019t conspire to take information that was given to you while employed by us to take and to try and aid you in your future endeavors.\u201d<\/p>\n

There has always been a steady stream of lawsuits in the wealth management space regarding advisor breakaways and what are allegedly bad practices in client information gathering and solicitation. Those were initially focused on wirehouse breakaway advisors, but have more recently shifted toward RIA-to-RIA moves.<\/p>\n

Related:Cresset CEO Says Wealth Talent Shortage to Watch Is in Adjacent Family Office Services<\/a><\/p>\n

Just this week, an ongoing legal dispute<\/a> between Edelman Financial Engines and Prime Capital Financial took another turn, with Edelman claiming that Prime Capital wasn\u2019t complying with a court-ordered temporary restraining order barring it from soliciting Edelman\u2019s advisors and clients. Edelman has also brought charges against acquisitive RIA Mariner, alleging that it sought trade secrets<\/a> about the firm and its clients. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Mariner, in turn, had brought its own lawsuit against upstart Savvy Advisors for allegations of poaching advisors without \u201cregard to contractual obligation.\u201d In September of last year, an Ohio federal court dismissed that complaint against Savvy Advisors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In May 2025, Lido filed its own complaint against Meridian Wealth Management and an advisor who had left to join that firm.<\/p>\n

In court documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Lido\u2019s attorneys alleged that advisor Brycen Coward had worked with Meridian leadership to \u201cimproperly profit from Lido\u2019s trade secret and confidential information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the allegations was that Coward, while still working at Lido, had begun accessing client information, including clients gained through Lido\u2019s membership in Schwab\u2019s client referral network.<\/p>\n

Related:$1.2B Team Leaves Raymond James to Launch With RIA Concurrent<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of files that Mr. Coward accessed the week of June 24, 2024, was approximately four times the number of files that Mr. Coward accessed in an average work week,\u201d the complaint states.<\/p>\n

Meridian, which is based in Lexington, Ken., initially fought the allegations, according to court filings. Their rebuttal included claims that Lido did not prove Meridian executives had \u201cconsented to\u201d or \u201crequested\u201d the gathering of client information.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The firm\u2019s attorneys also argued that the \u201cidentities of the clients holds no independent economic value,\u201d according to one filing. \u201cThere is no allegation that Lido\u2019s relationship with the clients is exclusive, and the mere fact that they may conduct business with other investment firms destroys a claims for trade secret protective.\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 15, however, the parties agreed to a settlement, according to court documents, but the terms were not disclosed.<\/p>\n

On May 7, Lido issued a statement<\/a> saying that: \u201cIn exchange for a confidential, substantial sum from, and other non-monetary terms by, the former employee and the SEC-registered investment advisor, Lido has agreed to dismiss its claims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lido declined to comment further on the specific case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meridian did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the settlement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lido Advisors,\u00a0a Los Angeles-based advisory firm with more than $42 billion in assets under management,\u00a0has left the Protocol…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":958042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3093],"tags":[51,474,2499,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-958041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-personal-finance","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/958042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}