Edward Jones, one of the country’s largest brokers/dealers, has started a multi-year restructuring of its home office team in St. Louis, which will lead to some administrative layoffs.
The restructuring is part of an effort called “Enterprise Reimagined.” The firm, in recent years, has evolved its branch structures by which Edward Jones advisors serve clients, including working more in teams.
“Our home office has been built to efficiently and effectively serve 20,000 financial advisors serving clients in one pretty good way,” Managing Partner Penny Pennington said during an interview at WealthManagement.com’s New York City office. “’Enterprise Reimagined’ for our home office is now making sure that our capabilities are invested in [the right ways].”
Those areas of investment include enhancing client segmentation and services, branch efficiency and financial advisor growth, Pennington said. They also include aligning systems so that client data and insights are available to advisors and that software such as the MoneyGuide financial planning platform the firm uses connects to its customer relationship management platform.
Pennington said the home office had been focused on investment advice, an efficient brokerage platform and an excellent training program for new advisors but that things had “gotten a little bureaucratic,” and there were areas of duplication.
Advisors “see that decision-making is slow in the home office,” Pennington said. “They know that if we become more efficient in the home office …. we’re going to tune [our] investment to ensure that their practices are more successful.”
The restructuring would result in home office layoffs, though Pennington said there is no target or specific timeline. She said the firm would be transparent with employees about the changes and that it would likely be hiring in other areas to bolster technological capabilities. She also said the firm would continue its 3% annual advisor growth plans.
Edward Jones has 52,000 employees nationally and about 20,000 financial advisors overseeing over $2.2 trillion in client assets.
The restructuring will create efficiencies, such as moving from five advisory platforms to one. It will also focus on building out different products for in-demand areas, such as private equity, alternatives, and tax and estate services.
The national broker/dealer announced Wednesday a new division serving high-net-worth clients in the United States. Edward Jones Generations will be open to select clients starting in the second quarter and will expand more broadly to more of the firm’s high-net-worth clients in 2026.
“We need to support our financial advisors through their entire life cycle,” Pennington said. ”As they begin, but also as they attain stratospheric levels of ambition and production, and so our branch development area needs to have the capabilities that are tuned to that.”
First Alert 4 in Missouri first reported the news of the restructuring.