WealthManagement.com reported on November 12, 2026 that Raymond James Financial Services is adding about 70 advisors registered with Synovus Securities, along with roughly $18.7 billion in client assets. The move was announced the same day by Pinnacle Financial Partners and Raymond James, which described it as an expansion of their longstanding relationship. According to WealthManagement.com, the advisors will join Raymond James through its Financial Institutions Division, known as FID, the unit that serves bank and credit union advisors.
The announcement, a Business Wire release, says the transition is expected to be completed in May 2027. The $18.7 billion figure is client assets under care. It is not a purchase price or a revenue measure, and the release does not present it as one. Financial Advisor Magazine, citing the Pinnacle release, reported that the deal brings $18.7 billion onto the Raymond James platform by next May.
The advisors' move follows the January 2026 combination of Pinnacle and Synovus Financial Corp. SEC filings show the merger agreement was signed on July 24, 2025, by Pinnacle, Synovus and a jointly owned newco. Under that agreement, Synovus shareholders received 0.5237 shares of the new company for each Synovus share. A later Pinnacle filing states the combination was completed on January 1, 2026, and the Synovus Bank entity ceased to exist after the bank merger closed. Financial Advisor Magazine described the combination as announced in January, but the dates used here come from the filings.
The release says Pinnacle Asset Management is not a registered broker-dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services. Financial Advisor Magazine described Pinnacle Asset Management as a broker-dealer, which conflicts with the release. Pinnacle is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and describes itself in SEC filings as a financial services company and registered bank holding company. Its boilerplate cites a $129.1 billion asset base, a measure of total assets rather than assets under management. Wayne Akins, whom the release names as Pinnacle's head of wealth management, said the Raymond James tie is a major factor in Pinnacle's ability to serve clients over the full span of their finances.
Synovus is based in Columbus, Georgia, and had more than $60 billion in total assets, according to Financial Advisor Magazine. A 2025 Synovus release cited 244 branches across Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee. Raymond James has been public since 1983 and trades on the NYSE under RJF. According to the release, the FID unit dates to 1987 and was set up so that banks and credit unions could work with an option beyond outside investment firms. As of September 30, 2026, the firm reports about 8,900 financial advisors and about $1.94 trillion in total client assets on its website. Financial assets under management were $342.9 billion at fiscal quarter-end, up 25% from September 2025, and fiscal 2026 record annual net revenues were $15.79 billion, according to its fourth-quarter results. AdvisorHub reported that Raymond James no longer discloses its advisor count each quarter, and that 8,900 brokers is the most recent figure it gave.
This is not the first time the two firms have worked through the Pinnacle channel. InvestmentNews reported in October 2020 that four advisors managing a combined $678 million affiliated with Raymond James FID through Pinnacle Asset Management. Two of them had previously worked at Wells Fargo in Charlotte and managed $323 million. One, Jeff Cox, had spent 15 years at Synovus Securities in Atlanta and managed $176 million, according to that report. WealthManagement.com also reported that a separate team, reportedly managing about $700 million in client assets, came from Truist Investment Services. That article does not say whether the team is among the 70 advisors.
The release says that once affiliated, advisors gain access to Raymond James' wealth platform, technology and adviser support. The May 2027 timeline leaves roughly six months between the announcement and the expected completion. The sources do not describe the terms that individual advisors or clients will face during that period, and those details will matter most to the advisors involved.