LPL Financial, a subsidiary of LPL Investment Holdings, which recently acquired the high-end outsourcing firm Fortigent, has realigned its management responsibilities and launched a new subsidiary.

LPL Financial, a subsidiary of LPL Investment Holdings, which recently acquired the high-end outsourcing firm Fortigent, has realigned its management responsibilities and launched a new subsidiary.

The firm said the realignment - which will see both Robert Moore and Esther Stearns move to new roles - is in keeping with the “changing needs of financial advisors and institutions.” Meanwhile the new subsidiary, LPL New Venture, will exploit “dynamic growth opportunities” in the financial services marketplace.

As of 1 May, chief financial officer Robert Moore will become president and chief operating officer, retaining his CFO role in the meantime while the firm searches for a successor, chairman and chief executive, Mark Casady, said in a statement.

Esther Stearns, currently president and COO, is stepping down from this position to take up the CEO role at the LPL New Venture subsidiary, also effective 1 May.

The new venture will offer services to advisors who are new to the industry and dedicated to serving the mass market. Stearns said the firm expects to “share additional details in the coming months about this entrepreneurial new subsidiary,” which she said will build on LPL’s platform of services for new advisors.

While the new business will look to service advisors in the mass market, LPL Investment Holdings also set itself up as a much bigger player in the high net worth advisory market when it agreed to acquire Fortigent at the beginning of the year.

The parent firm is prepared to pour money into Fortigent to eventually accelerate revenues and establish market leadership, Casady told Family Wealth Report in an exclusive interview following the acquisition. Fortigent had about $50 billion in assets on its platform as of February 2012.

In other moves announced late yesterday by LPL, Bill Dwyer, president of national sales, will now also oversee the firm’s sponsor relations function. He will continue to take charge of all aspects of independent advisor services and institution services business development, including attracting new advisors and institutions to the firm.

Furthermore, the firm’s executive management committee – chaired by Casady – will now include representation from each of the major business units at the firm, it said, in order to streamline communications.

LPL offers services to some 12,800 financial advisors and 730 financial institutions in the US, with headquarters in Boston, MA, Charlotte, NC and San Diego, CA.