LPL CEO's Firing Catches Some by Surprise

The firing by LPL Financial on Tuesday of its CEO, Dan Arnold, caught many industry watchers by surprise, with some calling the move “unfortunate.”

LPL said Tuesday in a statement that its board of directors terminated Arnold, effective immediately, for violating LPL’s commitment to a respectful workplace.

The nation’s largest independent broker-dealer terminated Arnold “for cause on the recommendation of a special committee of directors in the course of an investigation by an outside law firm, which found he made statements to employees that violated LPL’s Code of Conduct,” the statement said.

Chip Roame, managing director of Tiburon Strategic Advisors, said in an email to ThinkAdvisor Wednesday that he was surprised by the news of Arnold’s firing.

“LPL has done extraordinarily well under Dan’s leadership,” Roame said. “It has been the winner in both the FA recruiting trend and in the IBD consolidation trend.”

Added Roame: “While I do not know Dan well, he has been professional in my interactions with him. Based on news media I read, it does sound like LPL went through an extensive process to evaluate the situation, having set up a board sub-committee and engaged a third-party law firm to assess.”