Franklin Templeton adds five RIA salespeople, taking team to 18

Franklin Templeton has added five territory salespeople to its RIA distribution team since Oct. 1, taking the group from 13 to 18, Dan Muzzarelli, head of RIA and platform distribution, told InvestmentNews.

Muzzarelli, Franklin Templeton's former global head of ETF distribution, started the job Oct. 1, when the team had 13 territory-based salespeople. "Since then, I have added five more," he said at Schwab IMPACT in Boston. He said he had been recruiting for several months and that all five started in the past four or five weeks. The build-out is complete, he said. "This expansion is an opportunity for us to meet our clients where they are," he said.

A territory team of 18 means more sales coverage for the RIAs and platform gatekeepers the group calls on. The product review is the part that reaches client accounts. Franklin Templeton offers more than 1,000 products in the US, and Muzzarelli said the firm is taking "a very hard look" at improving that lineup through consolidation and expansion. He said the firm has been "very cautious" about multi-fund conversions. Any consolidation would likely change what shows up on approved lists and in model portfolios.

Moves Wire records two Franklin Templeton departures in the past 12 months and no arrivals, most recently Robert Gagnon's move to Digital Ascension Group as general counsel on Aug. 28.

Muzzarelli pointed to alternatives, direct indexing and ETFs as the areas where the firm has worked hardest to have products that make sense for clients. "We have done a lot of work on the alternatives side, direct indexing, and ETFs as well — that's really where we have tried to make sure that we have things that make sense," he said. Advisor demand is moving in the same direction: 83% of US-based financial advisors said they were using or planned to use direct indexing, and the same share agreed on its benefits for high-net-worth clients, according to an FTSE Russell survey last month.