LPLA vs SYF Comparison

LPL Financial is the largest US independent broker-dealer, with nearly 29,000 financial advisors affiliated with its platform and roughly 10 million associated customer accounts at the end of 2024. The firm earns the bulk of its profit from interest income earned on client cash balances and from advisory fees and commissions tied to the $1.7 trillion in assets under management or advisory on its platform at year-end 2024. LPL specializes in the provision of turnkey wealth management services for affiliated independent advisors, but maintains a diverse array of affiliation modalities, running the gamut from more traditional employee models to a pure RIA custody approach. It earns tuck-in revenue from recordkeeping fees and the provision of software tools and services to its advisor base.

Synchrony Financial, originally a spinoff of GE Capital's retail financing business, is the largest provider of private-label credit cards in the United States by both outstanding receivables and purchasing volume. Synchrony partners with other firms to market its credit products in their physical stores as well as on their websites and mobile applications. Synchrony operates through three segments: retail card (private-label and co-branded general-purpose credit cards), payment solutions (promotional financing for large ticket purchases), and CareCredit (financing for elective healthcare procedures).