InvestmentNews reported on November 12 that about 70 bank and credit union advisors are moving to the Raymond James platform, with roughly $18.7 billion in client assets attached to the group. The same day, Pinnacle Financial Partners and Raymond James announced an expansion of their longstanding strategic relationship to bring Synovus Securities advisors onto the Raymond James platform. Wealth Solutions Report, which published its own account on November 13, covered the same announcement.
According to the joint announcement, the advisors are registered with Synovus Securities and will continue to serve their clients through the transition, which is expected to be completed by May 2027. Wealth Solutions Report put the client assets at about $18.7 billion. That figure measures client assets as the firms describe them, not a purchase price or revenue.
Stephen Kruchten, president of the Financial Institutions Division at Raymond James, described the expansion as significant and highly strategic, according to Wealth Solutions Report. Wayne Akins, Pinnacle's head of wealth management, said in the release that the Raymond James arrangement is an important factor in how Pinnacle serves its clients' broader financial needs.
The move sits within the broader integration of Synovus into Pinnacle. According to the BusinessWire release, the two banks announced a definitive merger agreement in July 2025, described as an all-stock transaction valued at $8.6 billion, which is a deal value rather than an asset figure. Under that agreement, Kevin Blair of Synovus was to serve as president and chief executive of the combined company, and Terry Turner of Pinnacle was to serve as chairman. InvestmentNews said the combination closed in January 2026 and that Pinnacle is now the largest bank headquartered in Tennessee, reporting $129.1 billion in total assets on its balance sheet. FA-Mag described Synovus, based in Columbus, Georgia, as a firm with more than $60 billion in assets, without specifying the measure it used.
Raymond James is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, was founded in 1962 by Robert James, and is listed on the NYSE under the ticker RJF, according to background sources. The firm's corporate page cites about 8,900 financial advisors and about $1.92 trillion in total client assets, although that page is not dated. Raymond James has also issued regular releases welcoming advisor teams, including a November 3, 2026 item for a team with more than $700 million in Ohio.
Pinnacle has continued to add talent since the merger. A Synovus-hosted release dated October 14, 2026 said eight experienced professionals had been added in metro Atlanta, and a May 14, 2026 release announced an Orlando banking team that Pinnacle said built on Synovus's Central Florida presence.
The sources do not describe how client accounts, service models or compensation will change for the advisors during the transition, and the reporting does not agree on the exact entity the advisors will sit under within Pinnacle's structure. Those details will be needed to judge how the move plays out for the teams involved and for clients.